Child of Delphinus
by SEGAMew
Summary: A six year old half hedgehog half dolphin was found dying on the beach by Sonic. After caring for him, he eventually adopts him, much to Shadow's disliking. Unknown to them, the kid has a dark past.  Warnings: Sonadow, yaoi, fanchar, abuse to a minor
1. Discovery

Child of Delphinus

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By SEGAMew

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Disclaimer:

Ecco the Hedgephin, those with a background in science, and those who are the results of science belong to SEGAMew

Everyone else © SEGA

Any likeliness to any non-SEGA employee(s) created character are purely coincidental. Don't sue meeeeee D= I have a mom and two sisters to feed, plus a house to pay off! Plus I go insane if I don't buy at least one Sonic-related item biweekly.

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Author Notes:

After not submitting a Sonic fanfic for nearly 10 years due to being mean to me and deleting all of my non backed up fanfics, I finally got around to typing a fanfic. If you people reading this don't like fanfics that are centralized around a fan character, TURN BACK NOW. If you don't like reading yaoi stuff, keep reading because you may end up being converted :3 Anyway, chapter 1 is boring because I have to get all of my setting up the story details out of the way. However, the next nine chapters will pick up the pace hopefully, so please bare with me.

Also my story telling skills are teh suck. And I'm not very proficient in telling a story with flowery language, so A LOT of my fanfics will be rather straight forward. Aaaaand there are a ton of PoV hopping, so watch out for that.

Story Notes: This fanfic takes place after my Sonic fancomic "Like a Reflection". To read this, go visit my deviantart page and look around for my gallery folder labeled "Like a Reflection". You can alsmo PM me for the link. I will warn you that the comic may seen not very serious at times, especially at the beginning. And since I wrote the story and drew the whole thing, 'condensing' it was necessary to finish the comic in that year. The most of the first half was done on MSPaint, the later pages were done on Easy Paint Tool Sai (a page in the middle was done on Adobe Photoshop Elements though).

Rating: T

Warnings:

Profanity

Violence (most of which is inflicted on a minor, possibility of getting bloody later on)

Yaoi/Shounen-ai pairings

- Sonic x Shadow - union/married

- Silver x Shadow - minor secondary pairing, mostly one-sided

Unoriginal Fan Character(s)

- You may think some fan characters I made up are original, but it's really hard to be original nowadays.

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**Chapter 1 - Dicovery**

"Am I… to… die like… this…?"

Who would have thought a leisure activity such as basking on the sandy beaches and allowing yourself to soak up the warm rays of the sun could have devastating effects? We're not talking about skin cancer, crocodile skin or even sun burnt skin either. However, the strange half-dolphin half-hedgehog creature would rather taken on skin cancer than being beached with a few plastic soda can rings tangled up with other plastic soda can rings wrapped around his body. His high body density in combination with the unforgiving ball of fire and explosive gases in the sky left him with a dangerously high body temperature and severe dehydration. All that was needed to top it off was a thick coat of oil from some over broadcasted oil spill incident to give him all sorts of health problems due to toxin exposure.

Even maintaining an automatic bodily function such as breathing proved to be a very difficult task. With his body well passed the safe operating temperature, each breath served a secondary function of cooling his body. Think of it as something similar to that of a dog sticking its tongue out and panting in the summer heat. Unfortunately for the dolphin-like creature, it felt like he was breathing through one of those very thin coffee straws. When in the water, his dense body was supported by the it, making breaking the surface for air very routine and not something you would worry about (aside from possible drowning if you were too far below the surface). Now, imagine taking water out of the equation and adding one hundred percent of the Earth's gravity pushing you into the sand. The feeling was very much like having about ten king size mattresses laying on top of you.

His pale yellow eyes tear up as he yet again inhaled bits of sand and went into a weak coughing fit. His pale gray body shook with each gasp as he tried to replenish his body with oxygen. His tiny hands gripped and pulled at the chain of plastic rings wrapped around his neck in a futile attempt to free himself of the trash. They remained tightly wound against his body, threatening to cut through his dry skin if he even twitch in a wrong way.

He struggled against the urge to pass out, for if he did, he feared he may not wake up. Even though death would relieve him of his current misery, it was a very permanent 'solution'. He wondered though… was there something worth living for? He could not say, nor could he be bothered thinking about such a thing. His mind was thinking of nothing but the mass amount of pain he was in. He wouldn't be surprised if every pain receptor in his body shut down due to the sheer amount of agony. He actually wished that would happen.

His desire to live started to waver as he lay there drawing inadequate amounts of breath. If only he could at least wash his face in something cooler than the smoldering hot air he was probably burning his lungs with…

He shut his eyes and buried his face against the sand beneath him.

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Flashback

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A part dolphin part hedgehog creature stood at semi-attention in front of three people wearing lab coats. His wrists were shackled behind him, but his legs remained free of any restraints. The room they were in requires a badge and retina scan of those with a certain level of clearance to enter and to leave. This made any escape attempts very unlikely to succeed. You would need the power to be able to go through three feet of wall and insulation to get out of here. Or be Houdini.

The three figures spoke amongst themselves. While the subject matter was mostly about the creature standing before them, they did not talk to him directly, even to went as far as insult and demean him while he was present. The three, though all assigned to this department due to their aptitude in similar scientific aspects (their job objective in their resume had no bearing on the decision based of job assignments by the higher ups), they all possessed very clashing personalities. It was a wonder how could anyone expected them to work together.

"Like I said before, there is absolutely no way that incomplete _thing _could possibly perform such difficult exercises. It's quite evident that this one does not even have the proper intelligence for such a task."

The one who just spoke was currently the most senior member in the room. His name was Professor Hector Barley and was a badger in his early sixties.. He may have wrinkled up a bit with age, but the amount of knowledge he gained over the years proved to be a very valuable asset. He was not your typical kind hearted old man though. He seemed to always find something to nitpick about. If he found something he didn't agree with, he didn't hesitate in offering his own suggestions with an air of superiority, almost as if the best course of action was _his_ suggestion. If one could tape his picture (or several) in the dictionary, it would be next to 'pompous old coot'. If only he would swallow his pride and wear those thick glasses that his optometrist have been trying to get him to wear for the past twenty years...

Next in the ranking tier was a female falcon with mostly blood red feathers on her body.

"What was he thinking when he assigned such a difficult training regimen to experiment 005?"

Her name was Carmine Madeira She wore a black silted skirt that was knee length and a beige colored blouse along with the usual lab coat. She was in in her early forties. However, with the time she spent before (and sometimes during) work applying various make up products, she often times appeared like she was in her late twenties. This usually resulted in her not being taken seriously as if she was someone fresh out of college, instead of being treated with respect that she thinks she deserved. She also have the tendency to belittle others of the same or lower rank in order to make herself look or feel better.

Lastly, the lowest on the ranking ladder was a musk deer. He goes by the name of Murk Chardonnay.

"Heh… I doubt he was thinking at all, you know? Heheh…"

He looked like any other deer… except the fact that he have tusks that grew downward, making it look like he have large fangs. He was particularly fond of his 'saber tooth' look. Who could imagine that a docile animal like a deer could sport such awesome looking fangs? He wore the standard lab coat like most other scientists in the building. What made it stand out were the various safety pins he decorated the front edges of his lab coat with. They didn't serve any purpose other than pure decoration (or a substitute in case a button popped out). Unique looks aside, he was in his mid twenties and was a rather… interesting person. Whenever he spoke, he always talked in a quiet tone and most of his sentences included him chuckling this creepy chuckle. When allowed to go off topic, he certainly spiced up the conversation by talking of 'experiments' he had 'conducted' during his time in high school and college. These experiments usually involved ethically questionable things such as 'How long did it take to properly drown in salt water compared to fresh water' or 'How much amperes you need to expose someone to in order to induce a cardiac arrest'. People wondered why he didn't apply for the position of 'Mad Scientist' instead.

The falcon snapped at the deer's thoughtless words concerning their supervisor, Chief Professor Ashura.

"Fool! Consider where you stand in the ranks before you open your mouth in such a callous manner!"

The deer, unfazed by her words, continued to speak in his nonchalant way. Even though he was a latecomer assigned to this section, he have grown use to the often harsh words of lady falcon. Ranks hardly mattered to the deer. It's not like you magically got smarter the fatter your paycheck was.

"For someone claiming to having three different degrees in three different areas of science… could try for a fourth degree in common sense… you know? Heh…"

The old badger let out an exasperated sigh. He knew not many people in this department saw the Professor in charge in a favorable light. However, the rule that 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' should be one of those rules that would probably be in your best interest to follow. That and following proper electrical safety procedures when handling equipment capable of high voltage. That poor fox didn't have a chance without properly rated rubber gloves. In any case, if that tusked deer said something at the wrong time, it could mean that the whole team could face the angry wrath of the professor. In these hard times, no one could tank a pay cut.

Various thoughts ran through the head of the shackled creature. How long would it be until the Chief Professor arrive, shut these scientists up, and state his fate? He knew that all the past specimens born in this facility would never expect to enjoy a happy life, especially if you possessed an uncorrectable defect in your genetic code. His own defect was predicted to not show up until much later in his life, so it was overlooked since his unique genetic make up of dolphin and hedgehog could proved to be a very interested specimen to present to G.U.N.

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps just outside the room. The mechanical sliding doors opened and the Chief Professor made his grand entrance, immediately ceasing all conversation (and bickering) in the room.

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_Present_

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"_Answer me this, Hedgehog… does your heart beat faster when you're with a love, or with a fear?"_

It was two weeks since Sonic declared his love for Shadow, and two weeks since Shadow presented Sonic the Chaos Energy inhibitor bracelet on his right wrist and snapped it around Blue's left wrist in an act of proposal. That day two weeks ago was one heck of a day. It was filled with too much water for Sonic's liking, but if it's the only way to prove himself to Shadow… well the Blue Blur didn't cooperate at first, but the end result was all that mattered to Shadow.

A private wedding was held amongst a few friends the following day. No need for holding a normal public wedding day bash for every news reporter from Acropolis to Westopolis to shove so many microphones in Sonic's face that there would be no place to 'Kiss the Bride'.

Now it have been two weeks since then, and Shadow have yet to persuade Sonic to 'do the deed' with him at night. Sure there was more to love and union ceremonies than sex, but he couldn't help but feel slightly entitled to doing various ravishing things to the blue hedgehog. Or perhaps he spent a little too much time at Club Rouge prior to this.

Each afternoon Sonic visited Emerald Coast Beach for a good long run. One reason was because it was closeto the area where Shadow proposed to him. Second reason was because he wanted to build up his courage around large bodies of water so he didn't freak out all the time. He almost lost Shadow to the ocean two weeks ago because he hesitated (well, more like completely horrified and wanted to run away screaming). Shadow occasionally accompanied him to ensure that Sonic didn't test his bravery and swimming abilities by saving some unfortunate fish caught in a fisherman's net.

During the times when he didn't accompany him, he would be in his house (well, more like his and Sonic's house now) located in the outskirts of Central City. The house was originally given to Shadow by the President as a thanks for saving the planet on various occasions. Also, Commander Tower of G.U.N. wished to make amends with Shadow during the Black Arms invasion, so he offered a high position in G.U.N. to Shadow in hopes that he would accept and lend his strength to the cause of protecting the nation. Shadow accepted the offer, so the gift of the house ended up being built in Central City for convenience reasons since G.U.N. was based in Central City. Another reason for the location was so Shadow didn't have to be bothered by the ridiculously noisy environment of places like Station Square and Westopolis. He also seldom have to worry about mingling people he never really cared to associate himself with, namely Sonic's group of friendly friends tied together by strong bonds of friendship. Rouge dropped by every now and then because she recently got hired by G.U.N. under the recommendations of the president and was now his partner. The black hedgehog suspected that she joined as soon as she realized that Shadow wouldn't be living at Club Rouge anymore and would miss him oh so much.

This afternoon was just one of those afternoons with no missions in queue. Shadow skated right beside Sonic as they ran at a leisurely pace across the sand. Sand was not Sonic's favorite choice of terrain for running across, but little could be done about that. It didn't really bother the dark hedgehog much since he didn't actually make any frictional contact with it. Sand clouds shot up in the hedgehogs wake, salty smelling ocean winds blowing the sand particles far along the beaches… and sometimes an unfortunate sand castle builder or two wound up getting sand in their eyes.

Sonic glanced over to the Black Blur beside him. He smiled, enjoying these daily runs a lot more when Shadow was nearby. As cliché as it sounded, his lover's presence did make his heart soar with happiness. He wasn't entirely sure why he found himself very fond of Shadow. Maybe perhaps it was his mysterious aura? The fact he's the only person he knows who could keep up at these speeds on foot? Or perhaps… he just loved him? Who says you need a reason to love anyway?

The blue hedgehog then reached over with his left hand towards Shadow and tapped his shoulder. The black hedgehog turned his head towards the hedgehog beside him, wondering what Sonic wanted.

Sonic quickly landed a quick kiss on Shadow's cheek and grinned at him. "Tag, you're it!" He then shot off ahead of Shadow, kicking up sand behind him, some of which hit Shadow's face. The nicely sanded hedgehog grumbled under his breath, then followed suit after the speedster.

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_Location Change_

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Crashing waves. Squawking seagulls. A sonic boom not too far off in the distance. The decibel rating of these noises easily overpowered the weak frantic gasping coming from the strange looking creature lying on the beach. Tears streamed down his eyes, forming a river-like trail down the side of his face and effectively washing off some the sand covering all over his face. He blew and spitted out all the sand that managed to get into his mouth and throat. Well, since his mouth was extremely dry, spiting proved to be not an easy task. So he settled for coughing out the sand… which wasn't a much easier task either due to how little air he could get down his lungs from such an action. His small hands clawed at the plastic rings and his throat, almost as if trying to scratch the sand out. Not only did he have to deal with severe dehydration, overheating body, inability to respire, he now have to deal with the disgustingly grainy feeling in his throat and mouth.

After what seemed like an eternity, he relaxed his hands from his neck and continued his miserable attempts to avoid an excruciating death. Yep that was going real swell. If only his special accessory wasn't taken away from him… his neck felt so bare.

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_Flashback_

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The room went into an eerie sort of silence. Chief Professor Ashura was a dark green porcupine with a white patches of fur over his right eye and spreading to his forehead. Combined with his long spiky tail, it gave him a rather dog-like appearance. Though he was in his early forties, he proved to be a very capable person. Extremely dedicated and would sacrifice anything (and anyone) in order to progress the mission objective. As soon as he took a step into the holding room, everyone grew quiet… as if anxiously awaiting the verdict of a mere common criminal.

The Chief Professor walked on with his hands behind his back until he stood directly in front of the shackled creature, his pale red eyes never gave much more than a quick glance at the being. It was almost like the sole purpose of this action was to confirm that this was the right experiment to be dealt with. He briefly grinned a toothy grin that no one in the room saw, except perhaps that vile failure of an experiment. No more than fifteen minutes ago, he have received the order given by the one person that outranks him in this department, and this person was the liaison between them and G.U.N. And this order… was something he dreamed of saying in front of this abomination of an experiment for as long as he existed. Not moving, not even turning, he spoke in a calm voice as if this was a normal routine to him.

"Experiment 005ECHO has been declared unfit to fulfill the goals laid out by G.U.N. It shall receive Formula N.1.D5, followed by an injection containing bacterium #080809. 005ECHO's creator shall be the one to administer this. Decide amongst yourselves who shall escort the scientist responsible for this failure to the Purge Room to monitor and confirm that 005ECHO is no longer breathing. Confirm that he is not breathing for twenty minutes. Minimum."

He turned his head slightly towards his subordinates. "Is that understood?"

The three scientists nodded in unison, then talked amongst themselves to decide who gets to perform the escort duty. The porcupine turned his attention back to the small grey creature under him. He knelt down and gripped the creature's chin with an uncaring hand, forcing the creature to meet his equally unkind eyes. This time around, the Professor spoke in a very delighted tone of voice.

"I hope you have come to realize how much of a failed experiment you truly are, especially considering your poor performance earlier this week. Your value to us and G.U.N is not even worth the slop we feed to prisoners of war. You are worth _less _than a fetus of a normal born."

Then out of the blue, the hand not gripping on the ECHO's chin swiped over and grasped the necklace accessory the creature was wearing. He yanked on it and snapped it off of him, causing the bonded creature to yelp out in pain. The necklace was made up of light orange shells and a red gem imbued with Chaos energy. This special necklace allows the dolphin-like creature to be able to sustain his normally heavy body on land by lowering his body density. This would rid all other issues that would arise from high body temperature and respiration problems.

The idea on how the necklace works is based on the effects Chaos Emeralds have on Chaos, the God of Destruction. The world renown scientist, Professor Gerald, have created experimental beings called 'Artificial Chaos'. Though their power pale in comparison to Chaos, the research conducted in order to create these watery experiments proved to be very valuable. Later generations of scientists managed to recover the research and findings of Professor Gerald and most attempts to replicate the Artificial Chaos to be used as a line of defense have been successful. In another area of science, namely the department experiment 005ECHO is born from, certain strands of DNA from the Chaos experiments have been added to his developing DNA in hopes of possibly utilizing Chaos driven force to induce a sort of form change in the dolphin-like creature. Imagine a genetically engineered soldier that's both deadly in and out of water! It'll make those amphibious assault vehicles a joke.

ECHO went wide-eyed as he could feel his body immediately transforming. Though he didn't look any different externally, he felt himself getting heavier. His legs started to shake from the sudden shift in weight, and he found himself taking in much deeper breaths.

Ashura smiled, finding pleasure in causing as much discomfort for this mongrel possible. He relaxed his grip on the creature's chin and ran the tips of his fingers up the side of his cheek, then up the side of his head, and ending with a painful pinched to his small angular ears. ECHO cringed at the sudden surge of pain, but refused to give the professor the satisfaction of hearing him yelp. He was too focused on breathing anyway. The Professor would toy with this failure some more, but he have an important conference to attend to. He decided to end this quickly, but very painfully. He twisted his ear then pulled down his ear backwards and let go. This caused ECHO to lose his balance and fall backwards, landing hard on his back and dorsal fin. He cried out when he impacted the cold hard floor. The toothy porcupine grinned in sick satisfaction.

"Don't worry, I'm sure my son will be much happier with a real person as a friend. One with real intelligence, soul, and overall not a complete utter failure such as you."

And on that note, he stood up and scanned out of the room.

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_Present_

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An annoyed blue hedgehog sat on the wet sand, salty ocean water washing over and making him soaked from the waist down. His head and upper body were covered in sand and seaweed. He crossed his arms and frowned, starring at the black figure in front of him.

"That's cheating ya know." Sonic pounded the side of his head with the palm of his hands, trying to knock the water out of his ears.

Shadow smirked at the hedgehog sitting in the ocean water. "It's an ability that is naturally ingrained into my being. However, if you were to cease using your speed during our little chasing sessions, then maybe perhaps I'll consider not 'cheating'."

Earlier, he used Chaos Control to put himself right in Sonic's running path. The blue hedgehog tried to run around him, but the sand provided very little traction, especially at the speed he was going. Shadow then grabbed the peach colored left wrist as Blue made an attempt to run around him. He then used Sonic's momentum against him as he swung the blue hedgehog towards the ocean and released his hand. The blue hedgehog was thrown off balanced, tripped on seaweed, and fell in the water with a splash. To finish it off, Shadow skated off then u-turned back to where he was and abruptly stopped, succeeding in dashing sand all over Sonic. Revenge was so sweet.

Sonic lifted a hand up and rubbed his face trying to get the sand off. He soon let out a growl in frustration as sand got into his eyes and the salt water didn't exactly help. Shadow watched Sonic as he lifted his other hand towards his face. The dark hedgehog sighed and walked into the water and knelt in front of Sonic. He held both of Sonic's wrists and lowered them away from his face.

"Stupid, you're going to rub your eyes raw. Look at me, hold still."

Sonic opened his eyes partway, it was difficult to comply with painful stinging in your eyes… especially as large as the ones on Sonic's face. Shadow shifted closer towards the blue hedgehog and leaned over. He gently blew over Sonic's eyes, much like how a mom would do for her child when they get foreign debris in their eyes and couldn't get it out. Sonic flinched when he felt Shadow's cool breath being blown into his eyes. A blush crept over his cheeks, finding the situation to be slightly awkward. He also didn't like how the dark hedgehog have more control in this. On the other hand, his eyes were relieved of the grainy stinging pain. He blinked a few times and gave Shadow a smile.

"Thanks." He waited a few seconds for Shadow to respond. When he didn't give much of a verbal reply, his emerald green eyes looked side to side at his wrists, which were still grasped in Shadow's hands. "Hey Shadow, you can let go now ya know."

Shadow leaned in closer until his face was just a hair away from Sonic's. Crimson eyes met emerald. "Hmm… nah. I like it just like this."

As soon as he finished his sentence, he pushed his body forward against the blue and peach body and forced him on his back in the warm ocean water. As soon as the blue hedgehog felt the water rising up over his head quills, he jerked upwards in an effort to sit back up. With Shadow's hands still holding onto Sonic's wrists, he felt blue's pulse quickening. He feigned an expression of disappointment.

"Is that your heart beating faster when in the presence of water instead of myself?"

Sonic blinked, then glanced back at the water behind him, then back to Shadow. He then made an angry expression.

"If that is another one of your tricks to get me to drown myself for you, it's not going to work again, Faker!"

"Oh? Then perhaps… this?"

Sonic suddenly found his mouth being invaded by an alien tongue. Well actually it was just Shadow kissing him.. Not that there was that many differences between the two cased. Blue naturally returned the kiss, closing his eyes and enjoying the moment.

That was until Shadow pushed Sonic back down into the water, causing the hero to break out from the kiss and yelp out in fear. Even though the water is roughly five inches deep at the moment, that was more than enough to send Sonic into a fit of anxiety. He shut his eyes and tried to squirm out from underneath Shadow. The darker hedgehog felt his partner's heart thumping rapidly against his white furry chest and listened to his panicky breathing. He brushed his face over the side of Sonic's face and spoke in a gentle tone into Sonic's ear.

"Shh… I love you."

Upon hearing the last three words, Sonic stopped squirming underneath him. He opened his eyes slowly and focused his attention on his lover. He then pressed the side of his face against Shadow's. After he gained control over his breathing he smiled.

"I know." Sonic pressed his lips against Shadow's. In response, Shadow released Sonic's wrists and glided his hands over his arms, then down the sides of his torso, finally resting them on the blue hips. Shadow's tongue fought to dominate against Sonic's and soon won. The Black Blur relished every single intimate contact he made in Sonic's mouth with his tongue. Likewise, the Blue Blur enjoyed Shadow's style. Voracious you could say, and he found it quite attractive. He closed his eyes and allowed the Ultimate Lifeform work his magic. Since he was pretty new at this whole love couple thing, he didn't mind when Shadow is in absolute control… occasionally.

Sonic's eyes shot opened and gasped. He immediately grabbed Shadow's invasive hand that was caressing his blue tail. The section of the tail that was closer to his rear. Sonic needed to draw the line somewhere, and generally anything below his waist was off limits… until he felt ready that is. Sure, they' were married, but he always found the act of love making to be a very adult act, and he felt he wasn't quite ready to plunge in that direction quite yet. He sighed, nuzzling against Shadow's face apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Shadow."

Shadow shook his head and nuzzled back.

"There's no need to be, you were not in the wrong."

Sonic sighed a breath of relief and smiled. Shadow was surprisingly understanding, who would have thought? Maybe Maria passed that trait on to Shadow, who knows? A sly smile then crept onto Sonic's face.

"Hey Shads, by the way…" He quickly landed a kiss on Shadow's cheek and jumped away and back on the beach. "You're it! Nyah nyah and no cheating!" The famed Blue Blur dashed off into the distance, leaving Shadow still sitting in the water. He rubbed the area between his eyes with his index and middle finger.

"As if running at his speed is legal on this beach..."

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_Location Change_

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A low snarl emitted from the dolphin-like creature, his hands clenched at the sand as his mind recalled upon an unwanted memory. That professor… THAT professor… Rage could be seen in the young experiment's eyes. That grinning porcupine professor hated him for reasons relating to his performance in his training as a perfect genetically engineered soldier for G.U.N.

At least, that was the professor claimed is the reason why the organization should dispose of the little imperfect experiment.

Naturally the professor would never say that he wanted to get rid of the 'failed experiment' was because his own son took a liking to said 'failed experiment.' Many people who worked within the facility didn't like the idea of the Lead Professor bringing in his young eight year old son to work everyday as if it was just another normal line of work. The professor made sure everyone knew that the reason he often let his son run loose was because he needed to be exposed to these things at a young age if he was ever going to take over his leadership job in this department.

Unfortunately he did not expect for his son to think that Experiment 005ECHO was awesome looking and always wanted to play with him. Scientists who were assigned to ECHO kept warning the professor's son that 005ECHO was a trained killer and was not capable of 'having fun' or 'playing' with children. The son could not grasp the idea of someone who looked like a kid to not know how to play. It was practically mandatory for kids to know how to play with other kids!

The pale gray creature's eyes softened. The professor's son mentioned often that he loved his father a lot… 'Love' he said. That concept is so foreign to him. Perhaps it's an alternate word that younger people use in the place of 'need'? He applied this word association to his own situation. This would mean that since ECHO was no longer useful, he is not needed.

He is not loved.

Anger washed over him thinking back to his past. Surely with all of his training, getting out of his current mess should be no problem and without help. He grabbed hold of the rings around his neck and pulled as hard as he could. All he managed to do is probably leave imprints on the back of his neck and back. Deciding to try an alternate method, he started biting on the rings around his chest and yanked it at all different angles. He rolled over to his back, rolled over to his sides, all sorts of positions. No matter what he did though the plastic rings proved to be quite resilient. Which ever terrorist group invented these things, they were very sadistic people!

After a few seconds of rolling, biting, clawing, and pulling, he was halted very abruptly by a strong tugging sensation around his neck. He reached back to feel around and it seems that the plastic rings got caught onto a metal object of some sort. What he didn't know was that the metal object was a leftover hook-like piece from an old volleyball court that was relocated elsewhere on the beach.

After all of that struggling he did in trying to get the plastic can link off, lightheadedness started to hit him more so than before. Why was that… oh yes this was why, he was holding his breath the whole time so he didn't get sand in his mouth while he was kicking up a sand cloud. He tiredly reached up to pull on the plastic ring that was nice and snug against his neck… only to find that he couldn't even slide his fingers underneath them. His eyes grew wide and quickly reached over behind his neck and tried to undo the rings entangled on the metal bolt. When that was futile, he switched back to clawing the front of his neck.

Little black spots danced about in the corner of his eyes as he struggled to get air, any amount, into his starving lungs. His tail twitched involuntarily due to natural dolphin reflexes, even though he haven't been in the water for a long while.

He was wrong, he needed help. Badly. He couldn't get free by himself…

He managed to let out a single dolphin squeak before succumbing into the dark world.

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_Flashback_

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Cold. Hard. Emotionless. That was how the floors in this room felt against ECHO's bare feet. He was stripped of his shoes and gloves as ordered by the Chief Professor. He growled as the thought of the grinning porcupine lingered into his thoughts. His hands were shackled behind him just like before, and there was a tight-fitting collar snapped around his neck and clipped with a very short chain attached to a bolt on the wall right above him. This forced him to stand up, and was the only position he could be in. It was also a rather uncomfortable condition without his shoes. The shoes were specially made by his creator to help with balance if he finds the need to walk on land. The special footwear were also imbued with Chaos energy, just like his necklace that he no longer have. Without the shoes, he was rather... Clumsy. Dolphins were never meant for walking on land. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down and purge the thoughts of that green porcupine from his mind. He coughed a bit after taking a deep breath. He had a suspicion that someone decided to set the thermostat for this room to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Not that he minded too much since after all, his body was meant for cold waters. If someone turned the heat up to anything over 80, he would be slightly uncomfortable.

He heard the electronic door opening, but did not raise his head. No reason to be curious since you knew who would be present for your own execution. Soon after the door opened, it is followed by three sets of footsteps.

Wait… three?

The experiment looked up and began identifying the individuals. One was his creator, Dr. Aural, an elderly dark blue furred hedgehog. His eyes hid behind a pair of black goggles. He wasn't sure if they're there to improve his vision or so he could look straight into the sun. The second person is the falcon lady, Carmine. She appeared to be holding what appeared to be a large metal briefcase. Her tail feathers twitched as she stepped foot into the cold room. The third person would make ECHO sweat… if he had the ability to sweat. Dolphins never needed a reason to evolve with the ability to sweat.

Professor Ashura almost smiled at the sight of the failed experiment being chained like that. He took his sweet time walking over towards him, looking over his restraints. He then turned to face the experiment's creator.

"Doctor, how confident are you that these bounds…" he reached over and grabbed the short chain linking the creature's collar to the bolt on the wall.

"… can keep the experiment from…" he then yanked the chain upwards without warning, causing the small gray body to be completely suspended off the floor.

"… going insane from immense pain and break free from them and attack us?"

The elderly hedgehog looked deep in thought. He rubbed his chin and made "hmmmm" sounds. In reality though, it pains him to see his works being treated in this way, whether they were scientific failures or not. You couldn't tell behind those dark goggles, but his eyes were not looking directly at ECHO, but at the creep that was literally pulling him on a very short leash. He quickly glanced at his little creation. The child clenched his eyes tight and was facing away from the Lead Professor, the ends of his tail twitching in an erratic manner on the floor, as if trying to support his body up and loosen the tightness against his throat.

Finally the doctor replied, "I assure you, even these chains can keep a rabid bear in check."

The professor nodded, then let go of the chain, much to the relief of the gray creature. "We'll see about that. Prepare the formula."

The experiment stumbled as he felt the cold hard emotionless floor hit his feet. He leaned against the wall with his head tilted up, trying to catch his breath. It took a lot of will power to not lash out against the professor. It really did. He was trained to go for killing, not to stand there waiting to be killed. He watched as the falcon and his creator prepared the two injection guns. The first one he was to get was Formula N.1.D5. Basically what that injection did was completely disable his immune system. The second one was a fluid that's filled with living bacteria that generally causes cold related symptoms. Of course with his immune system disabled, there was no way he could fight it off.

To explain how the Formula worked would take all day. To put it simply, if there were experiments that proved themselves to be a threat to society or just failed to meet certain criteria, there needed to be a way to kill them without using a shotgun. That would cause unwanted publicity if word got out that the Novotrade employees were treating unnatural creations inhumanely. Lethal injections were also frown down upon, so another department of the lab have been working on a type of injection that made it look like the creation died from other causes, such of pneumonia or diabetes. These formulas only reacted when injected into a scientific creation due to how the scientists built their DNA initially. They were completely ineffective on those that were normal born, which was very beneficial to use. If an experiment were to turn on their creators, they couldn't use the injection on them since it would have no affect. On a last note, there were many different 'flavors' of the formulas. ECHO was to be given the formula that induced NIDS.

Of course no one died from the NIDS injection alone. They died usually from what bacteria or virus hits them next. That was where the injection of Bacterium #080809 came in.

"Mind if I test these restraints?"

The creator and creation looked at Professor Ashura. The falcon continued setting up the tools to be used. The doctor wondered what did he planned on doing, since it was not initially planned that the professor was to attend them. It could never be good if it involved his poor creation that is currently chained up. However, he could't exactly deny the request of someone who ranked higher than himself. He simply nodded.

After getting the permission he would have gotten anyway, the porcupine walked over and stood in front of the experiment. "Attack me, Experiment 005ECHO."

The experimented looked at him questionably. What? Attack him? Was this guy serious? As much as he did wanted to rip his head off, he continued to stand there leaning against the wall, looking at him attentively, watching his move. He watched the professor put his hand in his lab coat pocket and took out what looked like a pen. He pressed a button and a thin red beam of light shot out from one end. He asked his question again, but with a more serious tone.

"Are you deaf?" He pointed the laser towards the bottom the creation and singed one of the tips of his fluke. "Attack, mongrel."

ECHO gasped and withdrew his tail from the hot painful touch of the laser. This. Guy. Was. Insane. He glared at the professor, but made no movement to attack. This had to be a trick. Professor Ashura kept a professional demeanor, but the he knew that he was going to enjoy this. He pointed his pen again at the small gray body and singed the side of his left thigh. The creature leaped as far as he could to the side and away from the burning red light. He then jolted back to where he was when he felt the searing pain against his right shoulder. Okay, now he was angry. Before the professor could point the beam at him again, he planted his bare feet against the wall behind him and propelled himself using the chained collar as a swing of sorts towards the professor. He stretched his tail out and knock the pen out of his hand and went off rolling to another part of the room. He landed back onto the cold hard floor and smiled in self satisfaction. The porcupine still kept his emotionless expression as he walked back towards the hedgehog and falcon. He eyed the doctor.

"He thinks he's so crafty. If the preparations are complete, go ahead and administer the first injection."

Dr. Aural nodded. Carmine handed him the injection gun and he walked over to ECHO. The other two followed behind him. The falcon possessed a taser ready just in case the experiment showed any hostility. Though it was actually more for defending herself rather than her two superiors.

ECHO kept his eye on the injection gun and that orange fluid swishing about in the bottle sitting on top of it. Eventually, his creator knelt in front of him with the gun in his right hand. The experiment tried to read what the doctor was thinking about, however it was difficult to read the expressions of the doctor. He's very good at concealing them and it didn't help that he could not read the elderly hedgehog's eyes through those goggles.

However, the doctor could definitely see his precious creation's golden yellow eyes. He could see his little creation trying to read into the doctor's very being, trying to find some sort of heart beneath that dark blue fur. No matter how much he wants to do things differently, he couldn't disobey orders, especially with the Chief Professor in the room with him.

The green porcupine crossed his arms. This old man was taking his sweet time. "In his upper arm if you please, good doctor."

ECHO watched as his creator pressed the shooting end of the gun against his gray left arm. He cringed and shut his eyes as he felt a very sharp and painful jab piercing his skin. He could feel the cold fluid being forced into his blood stream and spreading its immune system shutting code throughout his body. He let out a breath he didn't realized he was holding as the doctor removed the gun from his arm. Drops of his blood seeped through the pierced skin and dripped down along his arm. He opened his eyes and found himself shooting a glare at his creator. He wasn't totally sure why, but he almost expected his creator to do something... Different. Was this how betrayal felt like?

The doctor felt almost hurt to see his own creation starring him down with such hostile eyes. Even though it wasn't much, he placed his free hand on his star decorated forehead and stroked him. The creation flinched at the touch. He then swung his head and tossed the doctor's gentle hand off of him. His golden yellow eyes shot another glare at the doctor. However this time, they were shining as tears started to form at the corner of his eyes. ECHO spoke for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"Doctor… I… do you really want to do this?"

End of Chapter 1

What do you think? Leave your reviews, comments, critiques, etc! Also, thanks to the following two people for beta reading!

Shots of Sunshine  
Rooty the Hazard

They're awesome =3 My original chapter size was 9.3k words, so I had to chop it down a bit so they don't feel overwhelmed every time they're presented a chapter 8D


	2. Healing

-1Child of Delphinus

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By SEGAMew

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Disclaimer:

Ecco the Hedgephin, those with a background in Science, and those who are the results of Science belong to SEGAMew

Everyone else © SEGA

Any likeliness to any non-SEGA employee(s) created character are purely coincidental. Don't sue meeeeee D= I have a mom and two sisters to feed, plus a house to pay off! Plus I go insane if I don't buy at least one Sonic-related item biweekly.

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Author Notes:

Here it is, Chapter 2. More flashbacks, more Sonic, more Shadow, and of course, more Ecco (though will be called ECHO for a while longer). Also, I forgot to mention the ages of the more prominent characters. Here they are!

Ages:

Sonic - 19

Shadow - Doesn't matter

Silver - 18

Blaze - 18 (a day younger than Silver)

Ecco/ECHO - appears to be 6 (chronologically he's a lot younger than 6)

Hope you all will continue enjoy the story!

Rating: T

Warnings:

Profanity

Violence (most of which is inflicted on a minor, possibility of getting bloody later on)

Yaoi/Shounen-ai pairings

- Sonic x Shadow - union/married

- Silver x Shadow - minor secondary pairing, mostly one-sided

Unoriginal Fan Character(s)

- You may think some fan characters I made up are original, but it's really hard to be original nowadays.

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**Chapter 2 - Healing**

"_Doctor… I… do you really want to do this?"_

Mocking laughter immediately followed ECHO's question, originating from Carmine. She glanced over to Professor Ashura next to her as her laugher died down.

"Love? I'm certain that this line of experiments do not possess the mental capacity for any sort of compassion. Oh so hilarious."

The chief professor simply nodded. "While this is true, they are capable of being deluded and led to believe in ridiculous things. A flaw that will be eradicated in future projects."

The gray creature blinked away the tears that threatened to roll down his face. He shot a glare towards the green porcupine, wanting nothing more to snap his neck in two for implying that he was too stupid to know any better. However, he found himself breathing harder and becoming more disoriented as the deadly injection coursed through his body. He forced himself not to sway or show any sign of weakness.

The porcupine noticed that he had gotten the little experiment's attention, so he lowered his almost canine-like nose towards him. Though he seemed like he was speaking to the failure, his words were for Dr. Aural to hear.

"The average time for the formula to completely disable the immune system of a subject this size will take approximately…?"

"Five minutes." The elderly hedgehog knew the answer since he was one of the leading scientists that had ran the trials and development of the many formula types. Five minutes was all it took for a subject as small as ECHO to succumb to the full effects of most types of formulas.

"Oh Professor, I believe the vile thing is exhibiting signs of anger. Look how it's just glaring at you!" The falcon reached for the reassuring handle of the taser in her lab coat pocket.

"It's foul, isn't it? I will make a suggestion to the council to strip all future experiments of any human emotion. Many times I believe we were better off with robotic soldiers," she glanced down to her watch to check how long it had been since the injection. She glanced back up to the porcupine, "Robotic soldiers are far more beneficial. At least we don't have to waste resources training and feeding them… only to dispose of them when they become failed projects." She cast a glare at the dolphin creature below her. For a moment she thought she saw him flashed his eyes dangerously at her, but soon dismissed it. As one of the scientists assigned to 005ECHO, she came to noticed that the little vermin was more tame when his creator, Dr. Aural, was present.

Ashura placed a hand on the shoulder of the still kneeling hedgehog. "Prepare the final injection if you please, Doctor."

Aural wanted to sigh. If only things could have been different for experiments that were not up to military standards. He believed that they could serve other uses, such as housemaids, lab assistants, pet caretakers… He stood up and walked to the preparation table to assemble the gun and the bottled bacteria. He held the bottle full of the clear fluid that contained millions of bacteria that would be more than pleased to inhabit their future host. If only they knew that their host wouldn't last long with them inside. The elder hedgehog then heard the sounds of chain rattling, but knew the cause of it. He heard the voice of his superior.

"It is of no surprise that you are incapable of grasping the basic concept of no glaring at those superior than yourself." Ashura yanked up the chain leash with such swiftness and force that it caught ECHO off guard. The professor then slammed his boot against the abomination's twitching tail fluke, causing a choked cry of agony. The professor grinned in sick pleasure; he knew that ECHO's tail was full of sensitive nerves that were usually meant for receiving and reading electrical currents in the air or water. It was also good for stomping on. He lifted his boot off of the tail slightly, only to grind his heel against it harder this time.

ECHO being subjected to this unwarranted treatment could barely breathe with his collar choking him, but somehow he managed to find enough air to scream louder against the second assault. He shut his eyes and kicked at the cold wall behind him in an attempt to push himself off of it and take the pressure off his aching neck. His heart raced as he struggled against the heartless grip of the professor. He knew he could survive for about ten minutes while holding his breath, but he didn't feel like chancing that in his current condition with the deadly toxins rushing through his bloodstream.

"Professor, that is quite enough!"

The professor slowly faced the elderly hedgehog, "Raising your voice to me is unprofessional, Aural."

The hedgehog stood his ground, "Professor, it is completely unnecessary to inflict further harm to the child."

The porcupine made no attempt to stop himself from laughing, "Haha… Oh doctor… This thing is not a child. Children are born from the union of a man and a woman, not created in a laboratory. Surely you are aware of this basic fact?"

ECHO's mouth was opened, but he couldn't get any air down his constricted throat. His kicks gradually grew weaker, then eventually dangled limply beneath his tiny body. Little black spots formed in the corner of his eyes, warning him that he was on the verge of passing out.

Suddenly, he felt the pressure on his neck and tail disappearing. He felt himself dropped and cried out when the force of the collar hit his neck. He frantically scrambled back to his bare feet and leaned against the wall, gulping the much needed air down his lungs. He weakly opened his eyes and saw the dark blue hedgehog in front of him, and the green porcupine on the floor rubbing his own cheek. He closed his eyes again and continued to focus on his breathing after coming to a conclusion that the porcupine pissed the doctor of and the doctor had punched him.

ECHO's head snapped up as he heard the doctor's voice.

"Professor, it's been a pleasure working with you. However, it seems your goals have become skewed over the years. You've changed. I will administer the bacterial injection as ordered. After that I will turn in my badge and leave Novotrade."

The gray creature's heart nearly stopped. He almost couldn't believe his ears. Not about the part that the doctor was quitting, but that he was still going to follow up on the order to kill ECHO. He emitted a growl towards the doctor, losing his trust in him. Hatred build up inside of him. When the doctor came in close range with the injection gun, he leaped and bit down on his arm. Hard.

Whatever happened next was a blur as tears of anger and sadness welled up in his eyes.

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_Present_

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Sonic slowed down his pace. Not too far in the distance, he could make out a gray colored creature on the sand. He saw it struggling against the plastic rings that it was tangled up in. He scowled. He hated it when inconsiderable people left trash all over the place. He watched as the little strange creature stopped rolling around and laid almost still on its back. His hero instincts finally kicked in and he jogged over to the poor creature in need. When he got close enough to identify it… well he couldn't identify it. He did look like a male though. He looked like a weird cross between a dolphin and… something he couldn't quite put his finger on. The thing also had five stars on his forehead arranged in a pattern that reminded him of a constellation or something.

The creature let out a small squeak, snapping the blue hedgehog back to reality from his identifying the unidentified mode. He ran over and got down to his knees over the poor soul. He slid his hand under the creature's head and tried to lift him up, but noticed that a few of the rings he was attached to was stuck on a metal hook bolt. He used his other hand to undo it, then sit the creature up. Upon closer inspection, he looked pretty sickly. His skin was very dry, he was not breathing, he had a few burn marks here and there, and he had various cuts and bruises on his body, presumably from the rings. Well at least he had a pulse… a very weak pulse. At least he was still alive. Hey wait a sec…

Sonic's ears perked up and his eyes widen. He looked around and saw a few shards of broken glass. He rolled his eyes and reached for one of them and used it to cut the rings off of the dolphin-like creature. He cringed at the sight of his cut up neck. Then an important question popped up in his head… did he breath air or water? Sonic was afraid of what the answer may be. He looked out towards the ocean, and back to the young creature in his arms… then back to the ocean. The blue hedgehog shook his head. Yes of course, dolphins breathed air, so this kid had to as well! At least… he hoped so.

He placed the kid onto the sand on his backside. He thought about the proper procedure for performing CPR on a dolphin. After coming back with nothing, he decided to improvise. He placed a hand on the kid's chest, and turn him over so he's laying on his side with Sonic's hand supporting him. Using his free hand, he gently patted his back. Sonic then raised an eyebrow. He had the feeling he was recalling part of the steps for the Heimlich Maneuver on babies.

The kid interrupted Sonic's thoughts when he began to cough up bits of sand and spit. His tiny gray body shook with each cough. Gasping, his small hands gripped onto Sonic's hand and arm that was supporting him up, almost as if seeking comfort. Sonic sighed in relief and smiled. With his free hand, he rubbed the creature's back, making sure to remember that a dorsal fin was in the way. He then felt a smooth dolphin tail almost rubbing the side of his leg. Sonic was not fluent in dolphin body language, but he assumed that the kid was displaying a form of gratitude.

ECHO's head was still swimming. He thought he was dead. He couldn't be dead, because a large hand didn't rub your back when you were dead. At least… he didn't think so. It took a lot of effort, but he decided to let whoever was rubbing his back know that he appreciated it by running his tail against the person. He soon set the tail back down on the sand after accomplishing this small task. He slowly opened his eyes, but shutting them back up as the harsh rays of the relentless sun hit them. Way too bright.

Sonic noticed the kid was trying to open his eyes earlier. Guess it was too bright or something because he closed his eyes. Golden yellow eyes… he recalled meeting someone with such colored eyes. An idea struck him. He stood up and looked for his shadow. He then rotated himself until his shadow completely covers the gray bundle in his arms, then sat back down cross-legged. He repositioned the kid so he was laying on his back in his lap, facing upwards towards him. He then placed a hand on the kid's forehead and stroked him.

"Hey little guy… how ya doin'?"

The little kid found himself on his back yet again. He found it harder to breath while laying on his back. He was about to shift back to his side when he was stopped by a kind hand on his head stroking him. His breathing didn't get any better, but he felt more at ease somehow… this touch reminded him of someone… Someone who…

He slowly opened his eyes and saw a blue furred hedgehog.

… Him.

Sonic cried out as the cute little sickly kid he was just petting bit his arm. Well bit was putting it lightly. More like tiny sharp teeth clamping onto his arm like some feral dog. Blood seeped through the penetrated peach skin and dripped the sides of his arm. Sonic clenched his teeth and tried to get a grip on the kid's shoulder to pry him off. What was wrong with the little guy? Did he somehow hurt him? Did he have rabies? He really REALLY hoped it wasn't the latter. He tried to talk as calmly as he could to him.

"Hey it's okay… I'm not going to hurt you. Please let go of my arm… it hurts ya know."

He searched for any signs of the kid's understanding of his words. Unfortunately the creature didn't seem to notice or care. He almost flinched when he took a good look at the kid's eyes. They were filled with this intense fiery anger, which wasn't unlike the eyes he sometimes seen Shadow display. Also, the kid didn't even seem like he was focused on him at all. Was he hallucinating?

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Location Change

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What was that THING? Or a better yet, what was that thing DOING? After following the blue hedgehog's shoe prints all over the beach and without 'cheating', it had led him to this spot that was far off from the beach sections normally allowed to the public. Leave it up to the stupid blue hedgehog to get himself in abnormal problems. The dark hedgehog skated over to Sonic, who was almost to tears in pain, yet still trying to sweet talk the pretty unnatural looking being into letting go. Shadow stepped over behind the kid and grabbed his tail and pulled. Hard. Sonic almost screamed as the weird looking thing clamped down harder. Droplets of blood hit the hot sand and dried up almost immediately on contact. Patience wearing thin, the dark hedgehog used his free hand to reach over towards the creature's neck.

Sonic saw Shadow's hand hovering over the kid's neck and immediately realized what he's going to do. He used the hand that was once petting the kid and covered up his neck "No, Shadow!"

Shadow looked at Sonic like he just lost his marbles. It was not like he was going to choke the kid. "Sonic, I'm just going to knock him out and throw him back into the ocean where he belongs."

Sonic couldn't believe what Shadow was saying. Did he even noticed how poor the kid's condition is?

"Shadow, look at him, he's hurting badly!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Like your arm?"

Sonic shook his head. "My arm is nothing compared to how I found him. And what if he has broken bones? I'm sure people with broken bones will have a hard time swimming! What if a shark comes and chases him, or an octopus?"

Shadow just looked as Sonic, unconvinced. He released kid's tail and crossed his arms.

"I know what you're up to. You just want to bring the kid home. And then next you'll want to adopt him as your brother, then have all sorts of adventures together with him as your new sidekick."

Sonic frowned, his gaze falling on the kid who was still chewing on his arm. "Shadow, if you're afraid of me giving him more attention than you…"

"Ten days."

Sonic looked back at Shadow. "Say wha?"

"You have ten days to fix him. After ten days, it's back into the ocean."

Sonic made a pouting face. "You talk as if he's broken! It's not like he's man-made machine or anything!"

Shadow was about comment out loud, but decided to keep the next comment to himself. Could't Sonic tell?

The sound of weak coughing caught the attention of the two hedgehogs. Sonic took this opportunity to withdrew his arm away from the weakened strength of the kid's jaws. Blood dribbled down from the kid's mouth as he tried to cough out the sticky red liquid that ended up dripping down his throat. Pale yellow eyes briefly focused on the blue hedgehog holding him, before he closed his eyes and laid the side of his head on his chest. Weak and somewhat rhythmic breathing could be heard soon followed after. The two hedgehogs looked at each other and came to a conclusion that the little one got exhausted and fell asleep. Shadow took out a green Chaos Emerald from his head quills and touched Sonic's shoulder with his free hand.

"Chaos… CONTROL!"

And the three disappeared in a brilliant green flash, leaving no trace except the dried splotches of blood on the sand and a cut up plastic soda can rings.

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_Flashback_

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Unsteady footsteps, ragged breaths, battered body, unpleasant smell. Those words described ECHO fairly well as he crawled out of the putrid smelling body of water that became a reservoir for dumping various wastes, chemical or otherwise. He barely walked ten steps out of the water before he collapsed onto his side, exhausted. He curled up shivering as the night air hit him like thousands of needles prickling his skin. He shouldn't be this cold, but he shouldn't be surprised given his current sickly state.

Rest. Rest was what he needed right now. His eyes slowly closed as he allowed his body to shut down for the night.

. . . . . . .

"…id… hey kid wake up! You can't sleep here, it's not safe!"

An almost purely white furred hedgehog tried to shake the small gray kid awake. He had been trying for the past five minutes. Judging from his hodgepodge appearance, the kid must have been from THAT project. He frowned. If that was true, then it was even more urgent to get this kid the medical help he needed. He seemed to be running a high fever and his breathing was spaced apart and irregular. Dolphin genes or not, he knew the little one was part hedgehog, and hedgehogs required a lot more air than the little he was taking in. He placed his index and middle fingers against the kid's neck and silently counted the pulses.

If he wasn't worried before, now he had reason to be alarmed. The kid's pulse was extremely weak. Realizing that there was no way he could rouse him, he scooped him up and flew off far away from this place.

. . . . . . .

A lavender furred cat donned in a royal purple coat placed a cool wet cloth on the starry forehead of ECHO. The creature was lying on a bed located in the guest room in the house. She was about to exit the room when the white furred hedgehog popped his head in the room with one of the most worried looks she had seen on his face in a while.

"Blaze… how is he?"

She shrugged. The cat was not a doctor nor did she have much experience in tending to the health of others. She may have been a girl, but she was not a stereotypical one that excelled in the kitchen. Nor was she the type that knew what the purpose of everything inside a first aid kit was.

"You are aware of the risks in keeping him here right?" She said.

"Well er, I'm sure it'll be okay. I mean they probably think he's dead or something by now right?" Silver looked off to the side uncomfortably, "He was almost there when I found him."

Blaze sighed, "Silver…"

Silver sighed back. He walked around the cat and towards the small gray form lying in bed. He pulled up a stool and sat beside the bed, glancing towards him.

"It may be just a guess… but I'm sure he's part of the PSP project! I'm certain of it."

Her eyes narrowed. "The Perfect Soldier Project? You mean…"

Silver lightly stroked the side of ECHO's face using the back of his index and middle fingers. "He has some of my DNA in him. Yes…"

Blaze's tail twitched. Now things were bound to get even more complex. "You know he's engineered to be a fighting machine, a silent assassin. There's no way you can keep him as a -"

Silver shot her an accusing glare. "I can't believe you Blaze… aren't you the one who taught me to treat everyone with kindness and to try and find the positive in them?"

The cat frowned, "When I said that, that was before I had to face the harsh truth that everyone is a two faced coin… with one face scarred up beyond recognition. In addition, my past statement mainly applied to people who are born as nature intended."

"Well… then I choose to first trust in someone before thinking otherwise."

Blaze shook her head as she turned around and walked out of the room. Her voice called out when she wasn't too far from Silver's hearing range.

"Trusting first… that's how you allowed yourself to be deceived by that black vermin."

She heard the door slammed loudly. She let out a loud sigh. It's true, if she hadn't taught Silver to be very trusting and kind in their early years, he wouldn't have opened himself so much to that black hedgehog. Blaze flexed her hand, little flames sparked and dissipated in the air. The next time she saw him, she would show him no mercy for toying with Silver's tender heart.

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_Present_

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Sonic placed another layer of towels drenched in cold water over the small gray body. The kid was lying on his side on top of many layers of wet towels on top of the kitchen table. It had been an hour since they warped back home and since then, they had been doing as much as they could to ease the creature's pain. Ice packs, rolls of gauze, buckets of cold water, and a spray bottle. No matter what they seem to do though, the kid's high fever made no sign of breaking. If anything, it had gotten higher. He also noticed that without the sounds of the crashing ocean waves and squawking seagulls, the poor dolphin-like creature's gasping seemed so much louder and labored. He wondered what was making him so sick. All of the symptoms he shown all looked like a cold flu, but a more Metal Overlord-sized version of it.

It hurt the blue hedgehog deeply every time he saw the gasping creature's eyes. It looked as if he was forcing himself to stay awake. His eyelids would lower, then he would jolt and opened them back up. Why was he straining to stay awake? Feeling unsure as to what to do next, he placed a gentle hand on top of the star decorated forehead and began stroking it. The kid flinched at the touch and his pale yellow eyes gazed towards Sonic. The blue hedgehog withdrew his hand, finding himself meeting his gaze with his own. He knew the kid was in pain, but did he see something like… sadness in his eyes? The poor kid must have been through a lot. Unable to suppress the urge to physically comfort the dolphin creature, he slowly moved his hand towards the kid's head again. When he saw that the kid made no attempt to stop him, he gently placed the palm of his hand on top of his forehead and began stroking again at a much slower speed than before.

It was now Sonic's turn to flinch when the kid started to cry.

Did he hurt him? No wait, the kid looked sad earlier. Maybe he was crying out of sadness? In any case, the hedgehog hated when people cried, especially young kids. When Tails put on the water works, it was a losing battle for the hedgehog. He ceased stroking and got up to fetch a handkerchief and wet it with cold water. He wrung it out over the sink to squeeze out excess water and sat back down in front of the trembling form on his kitchen table. Sonic then proceeded to wipe the tear-streaked face of the kid, smiling his trademark grin as he did so.

"Don't worry, Buddy. You'll be back on your… feet? Flippers? Fins? Well, you'll be feeling great in no time!"

Sonic nearly jumped back when the kid started coughing. Hard.

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_Location_ _Change_

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Shadow examined a bottle of pills as he walked out of the pharmacy not too far from their home in Central City. In his other hand he was holding a bag full of various items such as rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, a medley of medication that all seem to share about three fourths of their ingredients, and many towels. He grumbled and returned the bottle to the bag. If it was up to him, he would have dumped the kid in the hospital. However, explaining his dolphin features and the possibility of the staff being unable to accept him as a patient wasn't worth the headache. He figured that keeping the creature out of the sand and sun and with a little bit of hydration would do the trick.

He opened the door to his house and was greeted by sounds of coughing and the concern-filled voice of a certain blue hedgehog. Shutting the door behind him, he made his way to the kitchen to assess the situation. He saw Sonic holding up a trembling gray form with one hand, and his other hand holding a glass of water. The dolphin-like creature was sitting up hunched over, his small hands gripping the wet towel over him. His frail body shook with each cough he produced. Not too long after Shadow stepped into the kitchen, his coughing subsided and was replaced with sounds of gasping for air once again. His grip on the towel weakened and he leaned against Sonic's hand, making the blue hedgehog support most of his weight.

Sonic, now noticed Shadow walking in, eyed him worriedly, "Shadow! I-I don't know what's wrong I mean… he was coughing a lot so I thought that maybe water would help, but he coughed even more when he only took a few sips! Um I think he's okay now… well not really. But he stopped coughing!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes. He didn't need the blue hedgehog to tell him information he could easily have picked up himself with two seconds of looking at the scene before him, "Did you poisoned the water, hedgehog?"

"Of course not! It's straight from the tap, it's as good as you can get in terms of water!" Sonic replied, frustrated.

"If you haven't noticed, marine life do not live in tap water. I probably shouldn't expect you to know that, even if you lived on this planet all your life. Here–," Shadow walked over and took the glass in Sonic's hand and replaced it with a container that was filled with salt crystals. "Go to the bathroom, fill up the bathtub and follow the instructions printed on the box. I'll see what I can do to for him before bringing him up there."

Sonic sighed. He carefully laid the sickly child back on the wet towels that were spread out on the table, stood up, and went to the bathroom to do as Shadow said. As he headed there, he wondered why couldn't Shadow be the one to fill the bathtub with water.

Shadow rummaged through his bag on the counter, ears actively listening to the creature's breathing patterns. Ever since they brought him home, he showed no signs of getting better, but worst. His breathing became irregular and a hint of panic could be sensed with each breath, as if the creature thought each breath would be his last. Various ailments crossed Shadow's mind. Unfortunately many of them included high fever and difficulty breathing as their primary symptoms, so singling out any disease would be difficult. He turned around and faced the wheezing creature on his table.

"If you know why you are sick, now will be an excellent time to tell me."

The only response the black hedgehog received was more labored breathing. He wondered if this kid was capable of speech. Shadow reached into his bag and produced a thermometer. He walked over to the creature and sat down in front of him and held up the tool in front of pale yellow eyes.

"If you can't talk, then I will come to a conclusion myself with the various testing devices I bought. Now, I'm going to take your temperature reading. You have two options; oral or anal. Choose."

eqa

The black hedgehog saw his eyes attempting to focus in on the thermometer. But other than that, he received no other responses. It appeared as though Shadow would have to make the choice for him.

"Open your mouth, I'm going to stick this under your tongue."

It was if the creature hadn't hear him. He continued to lay there gasping like a fish out of water. Shadow might as well have been speaking in a totally different language... Or to a gold fish. With his free hand, he held the kid's head still and slid the cold metal tip down the kid's mouth. The creature's eyes shot opened and he grabbed Shadow's thermometer hand. He pushed himself away from the foreign object in his mouth and voiced his discomfort in the form of more frantic coughing and shaking his head. Well Shadow certainly got a reaction. It was going to be impossible to get a proper reading by mouth unless he knocked the kid out. Sonic would probably talk his ear off about knocking kids out though.

"Listen, runt. I need to take your temperature so I can properly diagnose you with something that hopefully can be taken care of with whatever I walked out with from the pharmacy. Now hold still or I'll stick this in your other hole. And I'm not speaking of your blowhole either. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for that."

The hand that was holding the kid's head was whapped by a dolphin-like tail. Fortunately for Shadow, the tail slap was pathetic in strength and didn't do a thing… except anger Shadow. Besides to a certain supersonic hedgehog, he had zero tolerance for disrespect and disobedience. The dark hedgehog was terribly close to throwing the brat against the wall. Hard. He mustered up all the patience he had while trying to talk softly to the kid – he had never the type to baby talk kids like Sonic would. He resisted the urge to not shove a ton of sleeping pills down the kid's throat to knock him out.

A thought then occurred to him that it would be very difficult to administer any of the medication he bought. Just about all of them have to be taken by mouth. Groaning at this sudden realization, he let go of the kid's head and slammed the thermometer down on the table in front of the sick creature. He got up and walked over to the sink, glaring at nothing in particular. He took in a deep breath, than let it out slowly to calm his nerves.

"Runt, if the reason why you're not taking anything by mouth is because you somehow got exposed to rabies, you better tell me now before I send you to the emergency room for your nine inch needle treatment."

"… n…"

Black ears perked up. He looked over behind him to see the kid trying to say something. Temporarily amused, he walked back over and sat down in front of him.

"Progress... Now try using the other twenty-five letters."

The dolphin creature's eyes focused on the black hedgehog, continuing to make hoarse breathing sounds. His tail twitched, but didn't slap Shadow this time. The black hedgehog raised an eyebrow. Was this kid trying to give him a dirty look? He reached over and grabbed the gray tail against the table. It was a firm grip, but nothing worth screaming in agony over. Nothing could be gained from causing the kid undue pain after all.

However, he still needed to have his temperature read.

The sickly kid bucked as he felt a cold metal object being forced in his rear end. His heart rate shot up and his breathing became frantic. He let his extreme discomfort known with a tired "Na!"

He tried to swing his tail to push the intruder away, but noticed that the black hedgehog had a firm grip on his tail. He tried to use his legs to kick him away, only to find that they were pressed against the table by the hedgehog's arm. Finding himself unable to use his limbs, he shut his eyes tight and took deep quick breaths to take his mind off of what was the larger hedgehog doing down below. It wasn't even a few seconds before the little one quietly spoke.

"O… o-out… n… hur…urt…"

Shadow glanced over towards the kid. Sighing, he placed his free hand on his shoulder. He gave it a gentle squeeze, then stroked along the side of his gray body. He watched his own hand rise and fall in rhythm with the child's rapid breathing. For someone who apparently had been suffering for quite a while, he sure was putting up quite a fight.

Shadow lifted one of the short legs over so he could see the thermometer reading. As he did, the gray creature somewhat involuntarily kicked that leg and ended up hitting the hedgehog's cheek, catching him by surprise. Shadow grunted not really out of pain, but sheer annoyance. This kid was asking for a death sentence or five.

Luckily for the dolphin kid, the thermometer beeped, signaling that the temperature reading was finished and could be removed from the orifice. Not feeling very kind anymore, Shadow yanked the thermometer out, causing the kid to cry out in pain due to friction burn. He soon relaxed, somewhat uncomfortably on the table now that the thing was out of him. Shadow read the display on the thermometer and blinked. While he didn't know what a dolphin's normal body temperature range should be, he was quite certain that it shouldn't be anywhere as high as the read out. He decided to question the creature, but didn't actually expect any intelligent response in return.

"Your internal bodily temperature is obscenely high." Shadow held the display in front of the gray creature so he can see it. "Is this normal for you?"

The creature slowly focused on the tool held out in front of him. "… N… ni…" He suddenly shut his eyes and coughed. Trying to talk seemed to drain him of energy faster. He huddled under the towels and curled up. He breathed laboriously and coughed harder than before. His throat felt extremely raw, making coughing and breathing all the more painful. He felt his consciousness slipping away as he laid there vulnerable in front of the black hedgehog.

"NIDS."

Small gray ears twitched upon hearing that word. He slowly raised his eyelids halfway before closing them again. He then felt himself being rolled over and lifted off the table. His face was pressed against something soft and fluffy and he felt arms supporting him from underneath his back. The sound of the black hedgehog's voice seemed so faraway as he blacked out in his arms.

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_Flashback_

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Silver lowered his hand after using his telekinesis to shut the door. His angry expression soon faded away as he looked down upon the sleeping form of the child. Blaze didn't have to mention… him. Even if she didn't refer to him by name, they both knew who they were referring to.

"_Shadow…"_

…

About two years prior, Silver was caring for a sickly Chao just outside Central City. These were hard times, and the untainted forests and other havens for Chao had been diminishing over many decades. Driven to starvation due to the fragile nut trees only able to grow near bodies of clean water, desperate Chao had been moving into industrialized areas in hopes that they could evolve and adapt to living in such a place.

Most of them died when technology and industrialization developed faster than they did.

It was then he met Shadow. The black hedgehog was watching him from above as Silver wrapped gauze over the Chao's wounds. He was approached by Shadow and was told that he considered his telekinesis a valuable asset to have during times of war. He was also offered a position in G.U.N. and proceeded to tell him of the benefits package. However, Silver didn't listen to Shadow after he mentioned the military group. He, Blaze, and various others in the protest group he was a part of vehemently hated G.U.N., their twisted views, and their methods of getting things done.

Silver turned to walk away, but was stopped. He was told to give Shadow ten days to persuade him to at least see G.U.N. in a more positive light. He remembered Blaze always telling him to see the good side in things, so he agreed to it.

While most of the conversations that occurred were about G.U.N., and how they were only interested in enforcing peace in the world, the topic of discussion began to deviate rather quickly. Shadow began talking about himself and how he saved this planet many times single handedly. Was it possible for one person to do that? If Silver was to have the ability to save the world, all life on it would live in peace… rather than in turmoil as it was right now.

Then the dark hedgehog would ask about Silver, about what he believed in and the protest group. After a while, Shadow began to pry into Silver's thoughts. He said how the goal of peace that the protesters were striving for was the same as G.U.N.'s, and how they shouldn't be fighting amongst each other but working with each other. Against his better judgment and Blaze's warnings about talking to one of G.U.N.'s dogs, he found himself intrigued by Shadow's words and ideals. Especially why he had been working alongside with G.U.N. for 'longer than anyone else on the force'.

Silver made the conscious choice to see him well past the ten day promise. He felt like he got so much more out of his conversations with Shadow. Sure it was nice talking with Blaze every now and then, but her views were so biased. At least when he talked to Shadow, he hadn't feel like he was pressured to stay with the protest group or join G.U.N.

Months rolled by. The talks of G.U.N., protestors, and politics, had stopped weeks ago. Seeing the black hedgehog became a habit that he found he couldn't break. He felt… drawn towards Shadow. Physically. Emotionally. The white hedgehog soon realized he has fallen in love with him. Shadow picked up on this far earlier than the white hedgehog did. He asked him a single question.

"_How far would you go to prove your feelings to me?"_

Silver's eyes closed slowly, deep in thought. He nuzzled Shadow's hand stroking his left cheek as he wait for his answer. Soon he opened his eyes and his golden yellow eyes were filled with a confident look.

"_As long as it doesn't jeopardize your or my status in our respective groups… Anything."_

Shadow nodded in response to the white hedgehog's answer. He leaned closer and whispered into his ear.

"_Then grace me with your presence tonight…"_

Silver received his first kiss that day. That night, his once pure white body melted under Shadow's intimate touch as he allowed himself to be thoroughly ravished as he saw fit.

Anything. He would do anything for Shadow, even go against his best friends wishes.

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_Present_

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Sonic stuck his elbow in the water to test its temperature. It wasn't too hot or too cold. He probably should have made the water colder, but he didn't want to freeze the little one. Also the salt crystals refused to dissolve in icy water. Guess he should had microwave them in a separate container. Feeling satisfied with the amount and temperature of the water in the tub, he leaned against the wall, waiting for Shadow to come with the kid. He glanced down towards the golden bracelet resting around his left wrist, which fit snugly around the cuff of his glove. A smile formed on his face. The bracelet once belong to Shadow, and was cleverly used as an engagement (and subsequently, wedding ring) of sorts. It was an unexpected proposal and happened in what had to be one of the most stressful days in Sonic's life. Partly because of that, the images of that day always played in his mind vividly. He shuddered after glancing at the tub full of water, further reminding him of the ocean that he was forced to jump into.

He turned his head upon hearing footsteps just outside the entrance. Red, black, and white colored rocket shoes, followed by Shadow carring an almost still small gray body. They came into full view underneath the doorframe. He was about to speak when Shadow cut him off.

"Drain the water and get out. It is imperative that you stay away from him at all times."

Sonic flinched at the strange sudden request. "Uh Shadow, what do you mean?"

Shadow shot him a stern look. "He has NIDS, and your every touch is killing him. Now move it."

He didn't need to tell Sonic twice as he promptly drained the tub and jogged out. However, Sonic couldn't help but feel apprehensive when he laid eyes on the almost still form in Shadow's arms. The only thing that reassured him that he was still alive was the now slow rise and fall of his chest.

Before entering the bathroom, Shadow kicked off his rocket shoes, pulled off his gloves with his teeth, and left them outside the door. Shadow shifted his somewhat heavy load to his right arm and used his left hand to reach into his bag – that he also left outside the door – to withdraw several anti-bacterial wipes. He walked over to the toilet, closed the lid and wiped it down. While tossing the wipe outside, he fetched a fresh clean towel and placed it on top of the toilet seat. He lowered the kid on top of the towel and adjusted him so he was lying on his side and not in danger of falling off. He then proceeded to quickly give the bathtub a good scrub down until it was absolutely immaculate. All used wipes and brushes were immediately thrown out the door. He was not intending on using them again. When he felt satisfied, he followed the instructions outlined on the box of fish pond salt crystals and sprinkled a handful in the tub, then turned on the water. He'll have to depend on the bacteria and parasite killing qualities of the crystals before he could go out and purchase a water purifier.

While the tub was filling up with water, he removed all the bath rugs from the floor and tossed them out the door. He began scrubbing the floor and wiped it down with anti-bacterial wipes. Tossing out the used wipes and scrubs, he covered every square inch with several layers of fresh white towels. After that, he put together a pile of towels that was supposed to make a cushioned bed of sorts. He tested its softness by pressing down on it. Feeling that it served its purpose well enough, he reached over and picked the kid off the toilet and placed him down on the pile. Shadow then got out the bleach and a brush to give the toilet a more thorough scrubbing.

The child's breathing was painfully slow and weak. Sometimes Shadow felt like he had to constantly rouse the kid up so he'd remember to inhale. By the time he finished with the toilet, the tub was just about filled. Tossing the used scrub outside, he turned off the water and carried the sickly creature up from the towel pile. He noticed how limp he felt in his arms. The kid had been fairly resistant back in the kitchen.

In any case, he was much easier to handle this way. He turned the kid so his back was towards the water and slowly lowered him down. He didn't even twitch when he went from room temperature to whatever temperature the water was at. He submerged him until so only his face and forehead was above the water. Using one hand, he scooped some water and patted water all over his face. Shortly after finishing this task, a realization dawned on him that he hadn't bought anything to help keep the kid's head above the water. Mentally cursing to himself, he looked around the bathroom trying to improvise something suitable.

He carried him out of the water and held him with one arm as he used the other to search the cabinet behind the mirror. He pulled out a roll of gauze. He placed him on top of the toilet lid and unrolled the gauze, then wrapped the fabric loosely around the kid's chest, even more loosely around his neck. After pulling on the gauze to measure its endurance, he brought him back into the tub. He placed him back into the water and ensured that his head remained above the waterline by lowering or raising the 'fishing line' made of the gauze. Satisfied that he was in no danger of drowning anytime soon, he double tied the gauze to the shower head.

Finally finishing the grueling task of disinfecting the bathroom and making sure the little patient wasn't too uncomfortable – not that he was conscious enough to voice his thoughts, Shadow exited the bathroom and closed the door. He gathered up the used supplies and properly disposed of them.

End of Chapter 2

What do you think? The pace picks up I hope. Yeah these beginning chapters are pretty long. The chapters involving family interactions and junk you guys actually want will come up soon (they will be in shorter chapter formats however).

Thanks Shots of Sunshine for betaing this chapter! And everyone else who commented/reviewed and faved =3


	3. Restoration

Child of Delphinus

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By SEGAMew

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Disclaimer:

Ecco the Hedgephin, those with a background in Science, and those who are the results of Science belong to SEGAMew

Everyone else © SEGA

Any likeliness to any non-SEGA employee(s) created character are purely coincidental. Don't sue meeeeee D= I have a mom and two sisters to feed, plus a house to pay off! Plus I go insane if I don't buy at least one Sonic-related item biweekly.

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Author Notes:

Here is chapter 3! Past sequences will hopefully thin out and not occur as often in the later chapters. Ecco must be awfully tired of them! After this chapter, it will contain a lot more Sonadow, so prepare for that =3

Rating: T

Warnings:

Profanity

Violence (most of which is inflicted on a minor, possibility of getting bloody later on)

Yaoi/Shounen-ai pairings

- Sonic x Shadow - union/married

- Silver x Shadow - minor secondary pairing, mostly one-sided

Unoriginal Fan Character(s)

- You may think some fan characters I made up are original, but it's really hard to be original nowadays.

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**Chapter 3 - Restoration**

Sonic laid on his stomach on the recently bought king sized bed. It had been a long while since Shadow chased him out of the bathroom. So the little kid had NIDS eh? If he remembered correctly, Maria had the same thing. He recalled that NIDS severely weakened or disabled someone's immune system, leaving them extremely vulnerable to even the most easily cured illnesses.

Speaking of which, why was it that Shadow wanted Sonic to stay away from the kid? Was Shadow that much different from him? He had been living on Earth for a few years now, surely his body harbored the same germs as he did. He needed to ask him about that.

"Hedgehog, you're laying on my side of the bed."

Speak of the devil. Sonic smirked.

"Well, I guess you'll have to lay on my side then, since I don't feel like rolling over."

Shadow placed a hand on the small of Sonic's back and stroked it. He then sat beside him over the edge of the bed and cautiously leaned towards the blue spiky back. He whispered into the blue triangular ear of his lover.

"I'll simply lie on top of you instead."

Sonic rolled over onto his back on the opposite side of the bed, slipping away from the dark hedgehog's touch. The blue hedgehog crossed his peach colored arms and stuck his tongue out to Shadow.

"Nice try, Faker."

Shadow laid down on his now vacant side of the bed. He stretched his arms upwards, then relaxed and turned onto his side to face Sonic. "I need to purchase a water purifier. I don't expect the salt crystals to be very useful if the kid turns out to be of the freshwater type."

"Uh huh…" Sonic then sniffed the air around Shadow and made a curious face. "Your fur reeks of bleach."

"I assure you, my fur color will remain this color. I was thoroughly cleaning the bathroom so the little one could actually survive in it. There are crevices I scoured down that I never realized existed."

Sonic blinked and slowly nodded. Personally he thought the bathroom was already pretty clean. Actually, the whole house was very clean; the bathroom was just one of the cleaner rooms. Shadow had always been big on cleanliness. He guessed it was because he was used to living on the ARK where everything was spick-and-span, especially since it was crucial for Maria's well being. The blue hedgehog suddenly remembered what he needed to ask Shadow about.

"Shadow, is there something special about you that makes you able to handle the kid without hurting him? Besides your radical quills and unnatural fur color, you seem pretty…" Sonic searched for the right word, "… normal."

Shadow closed his eyes, formulating an explanation that even Sonic could understand. He took a deep breath and then exhaled. He opened his eyes and looked at the blue hedgehog.

"I'm far from normal. I know that I'm not normal, so you needn't worry about offending me. After all, I'm of an alien heritage and was not born normally like you or your friends. I can bend time and space and my physical appearance cannot be matched."

Shadow heard a snort coming from beside him, but dismissed it.

"Professor Gerald created me in hopes that a cure for many diseases, NIDS especially, could be derived from the extensive… research gathered while observing me. They found out that I'm able to build up immunity to any bacteria and virus. Also, due to most of my genetic makeup being that of an alien race, bacteria that originate from Earth cannot survive on my body. They die the instant they make any attempt to colonize on or in me."

Sonic could almost hear the tiny high pitched screams of agony as he imagined uniquely shaped microbes melting upon landing on Shadow's fur. He fought the urge to laugh at the imagery as Shadow continued on with his explanation.

"As for viruses… while they can land on me, they can't spread their DNA using my cells as carriers. Viruses evolve to infect those on Earth. Since I obviously am an incompatible host, you get the picture."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "So wait, you can't kill viruses?"

Shadow resisted the urge to face palm. "Sonic… they're not living beings."

"Say wha? You lost me."

"Continuing on… viruses can still exist within me, but they become empty shells as soon as they inject their RNA in my cells. So they're just as dead anyway."

"Um… RNA?"

Shadow eyed Sonic. "This is why I'm the only one in this household that can handle the kid until he expels the NIDS out of his system."

If Sonic looked confused before, he now looked as if Shadow was speaking in his native alien tongue.

"Expel… NIDS?"

Shadow got out from his bed. He walked towards the bedroom door.

"That explanation is longer, and we can discuss this in the kitchen. I need to eat something."

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

_Flashback_

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The gray skinned creature stirred under the odd warmth of his covers. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room, the only source of light stemming from the silver moon in the night sky. His pale yellow eyes examined the area around him, only to find that he was in a very unfamiliar setting. 

He ached all over.

He rolled over to his side to alleviate the pain. His dorsal fin felt too cramped for his liking.

He thought back to what happened before he passed out, and only remembered he had escaped from that horrid room. The details of the escape were all a bit fuzzy. The furthest back he could remember was him falling through a foul smelling tunnel of sort and into something that could only have been a sewage drainage system. He recalled swimming through the foul smelling water and fighting to remain conscious. The mixture of toxic waters and his body's vulnerable state was a bad combination.

He thought for sure he was going to die like a common sewer rat.

ECHO absentmindedly squeezed the large pillow under his head and smoothed out the wrinkles. Someone must have saved him and brought him to their home. Pushing the blanket off of him, he looked over the edge of the bed. After evaluating the distance between him and the floor, he dangled his feet over the ledge and landed. Unfortunately he was inept in using his legs on dry surface without his Chaos energy infused necklace, so he landed on his rear end with an ungraceful thump. Grumbling, he reached up and gripped the edge of the bed to pull himself up so he was standing. He tried to keep himself balanced by moving his tail accordingly.

Soon afterwards, he started coughing. He pressed his head against the mattress and tried to control his breathing. The air felt heavy against his unsupported lungs, what he wouldn't give to be in water right then.

"Oh, hi there, you finally woke up."

The half dolphin creature sharply turned his head towards the source of the voice, keeping his guard up in the case this newcomer showed any signs of any hostility.

Unfortunately, the quick movement caused him to be thrown off balance and fall. However, instead of his face hitting the floor, he found himself being carried by… nothing? He searched around, looking very confused. As far as he knew, he was not told that he possessed the ability to float. The attention shifted to a hand that was dangerously close to his head. He swatted the hand away and shot its owner a glare. Upon closer inspection, the other person in the room seemed hedgehog-like in appearance. He had very light fur, a peculiar head quill style, and bright yellow eyes. He noticed that his gloves were embellished with aqua green ring-like markings that seemed to glow as brightly as his eyes.

There was something about those eyes…

"Please, don't be afraid. I'm here to help you, okay? Oh let me help you down."

ECHO watched as the white hedgehog lowered his hand and the green rings dimmed. He was then lowered gently onto the floor on his side. So this was how he was floating earlier, but how did this hedgehog do it? The little creature crawled up to the white hedgehog and grabbed one of his hands. He looked under it, behind it, and even shook it as if expecting some sort of device to fall out. He frowned when he found nothing. He raised his head and stared at him, as though wanting some sort of explanation.

The hedgehog couldn't help but laugh. This little kid was absolutely adorable when he was trying to figure out how the powers worked. He raised his hand that wasn't being held by the dolphin child and concentrated. The aqua green rings on the glove glowed and lifted the kid off the floor and the stranger lowered the child onto his chest before he released his psychic powers and wrapped his arms around the kid, smiling.

The kid could not contain his curiosity any longer. "How do you do that? Are you an extraterrestrial?"

The hedgehog raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised at the little one's extensive vocabulary, "An alien? Well no, I was born with this power to move objects with my mind."

However, ECHO wasn't convinced. "So you're a psycho."

Silver almost dropped the kid. "No no! Well um… I'm psychokinetic… but I prefer telekinetic. I mean I could go with psychic, but that's too general of a term…"

The dolphin creature eyed the hedgehog suspiciously. He was either a con artist or a lunatic. Great.

Silver sighed. Even Blaze questioned his abilities when they first met. Well deciding he had enough of awkward first introductions, he needed information from this kid. Silver was certain that the kid was part of the PSP project. If that was the case, then this creature would be proof that questionable things had been going on within that Novotrade.

"Listen um… your name?"

The kid coughed and tiredly rested his head against the soft fur on Silver's chest, "Don't have."

"Eh… well I could call you 'Mr. Dolphin Tail' or 'Little 5-Star Head'?"

He shook his head in response to the name suggestions.

"Well… I'm Silver. You must be really exhausted. I mean you just woke up and now you're-"

"NIDS."

Silver blinked. "Uh… excuse me?"

ECHO gripped on Silver's chest fur. "They injected… NIDS."

Silver stroked his back reassuringly, smiling, "It's okay, Blaze and I have been injecting synthetic antibodies into you. Blaze picked up on the fact that you weren't getting any better after a whole day of sleeping here, so she suggested these injections thinking that your immune system could use a boost."

"… Can it cure me?"

The hedgehog looked thoughtful. "Well, it's been ten hours since your last injection, so you are due for another in a few. Dunno if these injections can cure you. I have no clue about diseases and cures and stuff… all I can do is use whatever is in a First Aid kit."

Silver looked down after his explanation. The child in his arms was almost nuzzling against the softness of his white fur mane, as if seeking comfort in it. The hedgehog slowly raised a kind hand towards the kid's forehead and stroked it. The little one flinched and gazed up towards him with his pale yellow eyes. He watched that gaze dart around, then back up to him as if he had just done something wrong. Silver simply smiled and looked at him back with kind eyes. He stroked the back of the child's head and pressed his face back against his chest.

ECHO felt oddly protected and safe in this stranger's arms.

Eventually, the little guest relaxed and fell asleep against the soft mass of fur.

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_Present_

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Sonic scratched his head.

"So that's why you think he isn't born with NIDS? It's because he would have been dead long ago?"

Shadow nodded. "Modern medicinal technology allows doctors to be able to screen unborn infants for any abnormalities. If any show up, then the doctor should be able to treat or eradicate the defect depending on the case. In my search to learn of my true purpose, I came across information that sometime between my time on the ARK to now, NIDS is one of those diseases that can be eradicated while the child is still inside the womb. Anyone whom is already born and has NIDS can still be treated and cured, but in theory can still pass it onto their children."

The black hedgehog looked at the blue hedgehog sitting in front of him. He could tell that he was trying his hardest to follow, but still only got the gist of it. Sonic looked side to side uncomfortably.

"So um… about the fish kid… couldn't his parents not been able to afford the NIDS treatment but kept him in like a giant bubble all this time? He could have still been born with NIDS in that case!"

Shadow gave Sonic a deadpanned expression.

"Sonic, your imagination should never cross with reality."

"Well, I just hate the idea that there's anyone out there who would purposely give someone deadly diseases. It's disgusting!"

Shadow sighed. He probably shouldn't tell him that he had been poked with many needles and subjected to various diseases, NIDS included, during his time on the ARK. Naturally he survived the ordeal, but it was still very painful to go through since it took time for his body to build immunity to them. However, it was something he would gladly go through for the sake of curing Maria.

Shadow decided to say something more positive, and also proved Sonic's hypothetical situation very improbable, "Due to circumstances relating to what happened on the ARK and the wrongful deaths of so many people involved, NIDS treatment is 100% government funded."

Sonic looked relieved. At least they were making some attempt to atone for causing much of Shadow's anguish. He noticed a hint of anger as Shadow mentioned the wrongful deaths. He wondered if Shadow ever thought about the indirect deaths he caused when the dark hedgehog helped Dr. Eggman with gathering the Chaos Emeralds to fuel the Eclipse Cannon, or when he decided to side with the Black Arms during the large scale alien invasion. Sonic hated to admit that he was deathly afraid that he may lose Shadow to Black Doom. He shook the unpleasant thoughts out of his head. What mattered now was that Shadow was his life partner and he'd be damned if another evil tyrant bent on taking over the world took him away again. Knock on wood.

Shadow looked up at the Flicky-themed clock hanging above the sink. It was about 7:30 PM. Some stores were still opened, which was good because he needed to purchase a water purifier. He remembered Maria only drank uncontaminated water with various instant drink mixes. Since the kid was more like an uninvited guest than a cherished friend, he wouldn't have the luxury of fruity flavored drinks.

"Hey Shadow… how do you cure people of NIDS? I mean how do you cure people that aren't born with it?"

Shadow shrugged, "I built up immunity to it, but I was made to do that." He began to walk towards the front door, "I would not be surprised at all if we find him dead the next morning. I may not currently have the necessary evaluation tools, but I'm quite sure his oxygen level in his blood is dangerously low. He displays extreme difficulty focusing on anything outside of what's in front of him and his reaction time is sluggish at best and there's that severe dehyda-"

Shadow stopped as he felt two gloved hands holding his right hand. He glanced toward his left at the blue hedgehog, who looked slightly disturbed. Sonic squeezed his hand as he changed his expression to that of hope.

"Please help him…"

Shadow lowered his eyes. This hedgehog reminded him of Maria so much at times, of course that was not the reason he married him. The black hedgehog lifted his left hand behind blue head quills and pulled Sonic in for a brief kiss. After they parted, he slid his hand over to Sonic's cheek and caressed it affectionately.

"Of course."

Sonic leaned his head towards the gentle touch of his hand. Letting go of Shadow's hand, he placed his own hand on top of Shadow's hand on his cheek. He then turned and lightly kissed the single golden ring cuffed against Shadow's wrist.

Shadow decided to speak up before he fully intoxicated Sonic with his presence, "Sonic… I'm going to go buy a water purifier. Since the kid's NIDS is not something he was born with, it will flush out of his body in time. I'm not certain how long this will take. It is imperative that you are to not step a foot in that bathroom. And most importantly, do not touch him. We can't risk adding more bacteria to his ailing body."

Sonic blinked as he was brought back into reality and nodded. He frowned at the part where he couldn't touch the little guy at all; he looked like he really needed to be held in a loving embrace. Speaking of which, he wrapped his arms around Shadow and hugged him, before letting him go. A thought crossed his mind.

"Hey um, Shadow… if it isn't too much trouble, we ran out of chilidogs, can you get some more? A lot more, I'm sure the kid will get hungry once he fully recovers!"

Shadow wrinkled his nose. Hadn't he bought a pack of twenty pre-made chilidogs last week? He then placed a hand on Sonic's stomach and gave it a slight rub, causing Sonic to flinch. "Two words, hedgehog. Lose weight."

Shadow nimbly dodged the oncoming punch and slipped out the front door.

~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

_Flashback_

~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

Why? Why did everything always went wrong?

_You know why…_

Why did G.U.N. crashed into Silver and Blaze's home?

_It is because you belong to Novotrade, they are to be charged with theft of government property…_

How did they know where I was?

_It is because they embedded a tracking device in your body…_

Why can't I just lived a normal life?

_You do not have that right…_

Silver flew off with ECHO as Blaze ward off some of the G.U.N. soldiers with her pyrokinetics. They were just having a quiet dinner when all of a sudden, G.U.N. soldiers came barging in with an arrest warrant, claiming that he and Blaze have stolen government property with the intention of overthrowing the military with their rebellion group. Of course this was all crazy talk, and the one that is crazy enough to pull off something like this was…

"Greetings, Silver."

Silver stopped in mid-flight as a hedgehog with jet black fur with red streaks hovered into his path on rocket shoes. He watched as the black hedgehog bowed after greeting him, then straightened back up. The white hedgehog barred his teeth angrily at his former lover.

"Move aside, Shadow."

Shadow laughed. "Of course of course… I will move aside after I receive what I came for…"

Silver held ECHO closely to him. "He's not going with you. Now move before I have to hurt you!"

Shadow looked at the white hedgehog incredulously, smirking. "Hurt me? My dear Silver… I have serious doubts that you are capable of such. Have all of the time we have spent together mean no-"

Shadow narrowly dodged what seemed to be a circular object decorated with a large red star. It probably would have gone "GONG!" if it made contact with his face. He turned his attention back to Silver… or rather, where he once was floating. It appears that the distraction worked… but not for long. He took out a device from his head quills. It looked like a tracking device of some sort.

"Come out come out wherever you are my little dove…"

He grinned as it pinpointed its target not far from where he is. He raised his arm and gathered up the surrounding essence of Chaos energy. He licked his lips as thoughts about what he could do to his little white dove filled his mind.

"Chaos… SPEAR."

Silver knew that Shadow wouldn't be subdued by the distraction for long. He however did not expect a bolt of yellow energy shooting down from above and sliced through his right shoulder, causing him to tumble down onto the ground and lose his grip on ECHO. He clenched his teeth and held his shoulder, shaking in pain. Physically and emotionally. Blood ran down his arm and pooled on the ground. He dragged his way towards his child and roused him.

"Echo… Echo run, you have to run!"

ECHO opened his eyes and shook off the dizziness in his head. He saw the bright red fluid all over Silver's almost white fur and anger grew within him. That black bastard hurt Silver! He was about to voice his objection when he felt himself being thrown far away by the hedgehog's telekinetic powers.

Silver clutched his arm tightly, gasping after using his powers in his weakened state. He forced himself to stand and readied himself to fight Shadow. Regardless of what the outcome may be, he must fight to the bitter end in the name of justice!

"My… did the dove broke his little wing?"

Silver stood his ground as Shadow made his appearance by hovering down and landing in front of him. The dark furred hedgehog still was smiling even after shooting him with a bolt of Chaos energy. He didn't budge as Shadow walked towards him, smiling his crazed smile.

"You know it's rude to not render the proper respect to your beloved…"

Silver shot a menacing glare. "You _betrayed_ me. You are not _deserving_ of mine or anyone else's love."

Shadow grabbed the white hedgehog's quills stemming from his forehead and thrust his back against a tree. Silver cried out in pain as he felt the tree bark grating against his bloodied shoulder.

"You should be honored to have been a… primary contributor to the Perfect Soldier Project. Your DNA is vital in giving the product line their spark… their unique abilities…"

"Honored? Just stop it with your sweet talking, I'm tired of your lies! To think that I actually let myself fall for a creep like you!"

Shadow chuckled quietly, admiring the red stained white fur of the hedgehog in front of him.

"Oh you did more than let yourself fall…"

Shadow's gloved fingers on his free hand delicately touched the smooth white fur on Silver's backside. The part of his back not yet tarnished by blood. He stroked downwards, then lightly brushed his knuckles against his white tail.

He was then thrown back by a burst of psychic energy. He looked back to see one very angry hedgehog. He smiled after seeing he was successful in inducing a pink tint on the injured hedgehog's cheeks.

"Perhaps I may have been withholding information… it's not within my power to disclose sensitive information to a civilian."

"Do I look stupid enough to believe that?"

"Oh trust me you do not want me to answer that."

Silver leaned against the tree behind him, the blood loss slowly catching up to him. He took a deep breath, then return his attention to Shadow. However this time, his face was filled with a sad expression.

"Shadow… when we… when we… I really thought that you..."

Shadow shrugged. "Your thoughts and what you desire most are the same. You thought I loved you because you desire such."

Silver angrily shut his eyes. "Why did you drove me as far as to make me lie for you upon your bed? If you did not harbor the same feelings, then why?"

"You know why. I needed your DNA for the PSP project."

"Well yeah… way after the fact!"

Shadow walked forward and lifted his fingers to Silver's chin. He tilted his face towards his and leaned forward, whispering into his white furred ear.

"If you would have known earlier, would it stop you from pressing your body against my own?"

Silver weakly opened his eyes. He sighed. "I…"

Silver felt a hand pressed against his wounded shoulder. He let out a sharp gasp and tried to move away from the hand. However, he found himself moving directly towards Shadow and ended up being held against him. Before he could attempt to use his telekinesis to propel Shadow away, he felt his chin being lifted forward and warm lips pressed against his own.

Soon after they parted from their kiss, Shadow rammed Silver's head against the tree and knocked him out. The dark hedgehog carefully lowered the unconscious hedgehog down to a sitting position against the tree, then went out to seek the runaway.

~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

_Present_

~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

After Shadow left to go purchase a water purifier for their little ailing guest, Sonic decided to clean up the kitchen. He tossed the wet towels in the laundry basket and placed all of the medication Shadow bought in the top cabinet. After the cleanup was done, he went to his (and Shadow's) room and plopped down on the bed. Now was the perfect time for a quick nap since things were crazy as soon as they arrived home. He didn't bother crawling under the covers, he just closed his eyes and wait for sleep to take over.

Sonic's ears picked up the sound of what seemed to be a crying child. Guess sleep will have to wait. He got up from bed and made his way to the bathroom. He hovered his hand above the doorknob, then hesitated. Shadow specifically told him to not make any contact with the kid because the crazy amount of bacteria that lives on the bodies of people of Earth was a death sentence for someone ridden with NIDS. Still, he couldn't exactly ignore his heroic side of his personality. Plus, he absolutely hates hearing children cry and not being able to do anything about it.

He turned the knob and peeked inside the bathroom. Searching around, he saw what appears to be ripped pieces of medicinal gauze hanging from the shower head, floating in the bathtub, then finally ending at a towel pile, where he saw the little gray creature curled up under them. He also noticed a water trail leading from the bathtub to the floor, guessing that he crawled out on his own. The white towel pile shook over the shivering form it covered. Sonic couldn't tell if he's shivering because he's cold, or afraid of something. Probably out of fear of something because his crying can still be heard underneath the towels, albeit much quieter than before. Maybe he's calming down. Oh if only he could go in and comfort him with physical contact! He was so use to comforting Tails with hugs and noogies.

The blue hedgehog was about to shut the door and resume his nap when he spotted yellow eyes peering out from beneath the towel pile. The kid shifted himself and pushed some of the towel off so his head was partially showing, enough to see his full face and little white stars. Sonic heart felt like it's being stabbed repeatedly when he laid eyes on the little guy's tear streaked miserable face. He also looked so tired. Well when you were struggling to fight off NIDS, leaving you extremely vulnerable, of course you would be sapped of your strength.

Sonic's grip on the doorknob tightened. The kid's wretched appearance and breathing reminded him of how obese people were all out of breath and more after running a triathlon. Except this kid was nowhere near morbidly obese and the triathlon was happening internally. He can't bare watching him any longer, so he closed the door as quietly as he can and slowly backed away and stopped, ears listening for any sounds of distress.

When the kid didn't begin crying again, he let out a depressed sigh and walked back to his room. He fell on top of the bed, landing on his front side and rested his head on top of his folded arms. He let out a heavy sigh. This is going to be a long night.

~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

Flashback

~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't carry out your sentence."

The dark furred hedgehog stood in front of ECHO, who was wobbling with every intake of breath. The dolphin hybrid appeared unwell, but quite alive. It was not quite what he expected since test runs for this particular formula injection had them croaking within an hour or so after exposing them to the harsh environment. He suspected that someone must have given him an injection that either slowed down the progression of NIDS or keeping kept him in a hypoallergenic fish tank.

The runaway experiment made no effort to answer him. Why should he, this creep hurt Silver! He emitted a menacing growl. He had no intention of running away; he wouldn't get too far anyway due to not being well equipped for land travel. The dark hedgehog's ever present grin and cold eyes unnerved him somewhat. He looked like someone who would slit a puppy's throat and laugh as it bled to death. It didn't surprise him one bit that this guy was the chief advisor and liaison between G.U.N. and the jurisdiction in charge of the Perfect Soldier Project.

"Chaos… SPEAR."

ECHO rolled to his side, narrowly dodging the flying bolt of chaos energy. The bolt crashed through the ground near him and left a large smoldering hole. He snapped his head towards the larger hedgehog. Was this guy serious? That kind of destructive energy would kill him! Well that was the whole idea of tracking him down, but he expected him to take him into custody and eliminate him within closed walls, far away from public eye. A hand gripped his chest. If only he knew about the tracking device earlier, he would have left Silver before G.U.N. located him and… he shook his head. Now was not the time for 'what ifs'.

Shadow was not bothered by the little runaway's dodging of the chaos spear. It was not like he wasn't expecting him to… after all he purposely aimed off mark. He chuckled quietly to himself then smirked. He raised his left hand towards the gray one.

"For your next training exercise, successfully dodge a shower of thirteen chaos spears."

He didn't give him any time to blink before he started shooting chaos spears at him. He only gave the experiment only a second between each shot for him to analyze the best course of action and act on it. If ECHO had his chaos accessory and was at full capability, he would have allowed only a tenth of a second between each shot. A full second was very generous.

ECHO managed to dodge the first three spears completely, but the fourth one singed his left thigh. He suppressed the urge to cry out and continued to roll and evade the shots. By the time of the tenth spear, he was breathing hard and starting to lose his focus. By the time of the eleventh, he was doubling over from the tenth bolt spearing his right side. He somersaulted forward in time to dodge the flying eleventh spear, and darted to the side and avoided the twelfth. Forcing himself to ignore the screaming pain from everywhere in his body, he kicked himself forward and successfully dodged the thirteen chaos spear.

Shadow had watched ECHO complete many training exercises either through surveillance videos or watching him alongside with the performance reviewers personally. Normally when ECHO completed his training exercises with 110% or higher success, he would smile to himself as those who review his performance gave him praise and approval. He almost had an aura of invincibility.

Now he was just a shadow of his former self as he watched him fall to his right side, not expecting a fourteenth spear at all. It hit him fully on his left side and knocked the air out of him. It wasn't a fatal blow; it just hurt excruciatingly due to the fact that he hadn't prepared his body to take the hit at all. The black hedgehog stood there as he watched him try to curl up protectively as if that would do him any good. He wondered if the kid's rapid pained gasping was actually doing any good. That deteriorating NIDS ridden body definitely wasn't.

He walked over towards ECHO. The gasping creature reacted to the approaching footsteps and struggled to crawl away. However, Shadow's right hand was placed firmly on top of his burning left side, causing the little one to cry loudly in pain. That last chaos spear didn't break the skin to make him bleed, but it did cause severe irritation and the nerves to explode at the reception of pain. Not in the literal sense, but it felt that way.

Shadow watched his hand rise and fall from the erratic breathing of Project ECHO. His gaze moved towards the pale yellow eyes of the fallen form in front of him. Tears flowed freely from his eyes, which he knew was out of physical pain. This project's lineup was not capable of crying out of sadness after all.

Shadow closed his own eyes. It had been so long since he shed tears of sadness. Not since someone very close and dear to him died.

ECHO made no effort to wipe the tears away. He was always told tears signified weakness, but right now he couldn't be bothered to care. He knew he was going to die, so there was no point in trying to be strong until the very end. He knew that being even more rebellious than he was before would lead to a very slow and painful end. He simply laid there, listening to his own struggled breaths and gasps piercing the silence of this cold night. That large hand on his side made him slightly more uncomfortable and hindered his breathing, but whatever. He couldn't be bothered to continue living his cursed life.

Though, there was a part of him deep inside that wished he could reborn as someone else… someone with a normal life. If he already wasn't involuntarily fighting for air, he would laugh. Those who had their souls 'manufactured' for them were probably not eligible to be reborn in another life.

ECHO then felt himself being rolled onto his back and blinked as he felt his nose being pinched and pulled up, forcing his mouth to open wider. He winced in response to this action. He also noticed that the hand on his body was no longer holding him down. He suddenly felt something entering his mouth. It felt like… a sharp object at the end of a larger piece of plastic. He grew wide-eyed as panic set in. He was going to get a lethal injection in his mouth? Yellow eyes darted worriedly, and stared up towards the blood red eyes of his captor.

Instead of cold and merciless, his eyes were… soft? Still not quite kind but the edge that was there before was replaced with something that could be described as remorse. His next words also had a sort of strange affection tone to them. It wasn't unlike the paternal tone that the Doctor always spoke to him in.

"Hold… still. Right here," he felt a small prick far down in his throat that almost made him gag, "I don't care what you do or how you may feel about me, but do not move until I give the command. If you so much as twitch, I will knock you out fully."

ECHO could have sworn he saw the red eyes flash with pleasure briefly during that last sentence. He decided to ignore it and concentrate on what was said before that. He would frown if he could. He didn't exactly have much control over involuntary bodily functions such as reacting to immense amount of pain. He might not be able to run away, but he could still writhe in pain.

Shadow held the syringe and needle in his left hand and ECHO's nose in his right. The excessive gasping and tongue movements were troublesome. He would need to do this quickly before the kid decided to have a panic attack right here. He held his breath in as he pushed the needle into ECHO's throat muscle. He saw his eyes grew wide and he could feel the small body tense up. The small tongue instinctively started to make the swallowing motion, causing the syringe and needle to shift away from its mark.

His next words came with a tone of voice that demanded utmost compliance. "Do. NOT. Move." It was already extremely difficult to perform this injection on such a small mouth. If the kid didn't stop squirming soon…

ECHO shut his eyes tight and fought against the urge to gag. Why couldn't the injection be in a normal area? He didn't understand what was this lunatic was doing to him. This hurt badly and he did not like it at all. Breathing through his nose was not an option and he couldn't breathe through his mouth without feeling like swallowing or choking with that needle so deep in his throat. Was he expected not to breathe? He guessed breathing was not excluded from 'Do. NOT. Move.'

Shadow gave him five seconds to stop trembling. He actually did expect him to stop breathing for ten seconds, but that was probably too much to ask of him since he probably hadn't been sustaining his body with the proper level of oxygen ever since he was stripped of his necklace.

Eventually he was satisfied with ECHO's effort of lying almost still and his erratic breathing toned down to small intakes of breath every few seconds. The kid could definitely do it without that scowling expression, but in any case progress could finally be made. He pushed the plunger in the syringe as fast as he was allowed and forced the medicinal fluid into his throat muscles. The experiment's small intakes of breath turned into sharp gasps and his eyes read 'Please STOP'. He saw bare hands gripping the ground and his tail slightly twitched.

The few seconds of nightmare was over when Shadow finally removed the needle from ECHO's throat. As soon as he removed the tool out of his mouth, the dolphin hybrid rolled over to his side and cough hard and loud. Shadow dug a hole and buried the used tool in the ground while listening to his patient's coughing and breathing. He smiled to himself. It looked like the experimental drug worked. The fact that the kid was coughing signified that his body was able to recognize foreign debris in the air and his body's natural defenses was expelling them. Or it could be a normal bodily reaction accompanied with the gagging reflex. In either case, the kid now has some form of antibodies in him as a temporary form of protection since his immune system shut down. These antibodies may not have been fully present in his whole body and were weaker in comparison to natural antibodies, but at least his throat could now filter out the germs in the air before they reach his unprotected lungs.

ECHO held a hand to his mouth and coughed hard. He felt like his throat was being invaded by thousands of microbes and were setting his throat on fire. This was not a good feeling and was regretting that he actually did as the black hedgehog told him. He then felt hands holding him and he instinctively curled up since he lacked the strength to run away. He felt himself being lifted up and carried off somewhere. His face pressed against something soft and comfortable, which he soon noticed was the white patch of fur on his captor's chest. It contrasted so much against his pitch black fur, but it also seemed to complement it at the same time. Exhaustion began to catch up with him as he began to either fall asleep or pass out… he couldn't tell which.

Shadow then spoke in a soft voice, "That injection will temporarily help you against airborne threats. Its effects will only last up to three hours or so… the next time you see me, remind me that you have NIDS."

Red eyes glanced down upon the sleeping figure in his arms, face against his white fur patch. Shadow looked up towards the night sky then closed his eyes in thought. He lifted his hand and stroked ECHO's starred forehead.

"Do not be alarmed if I don't remember you… Ecco."

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

_Present_

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

Shadow skated towards his home after spending an hour and a half trying to find a store that had water purifiers. Apparently these devices were not in high demand on Earth. That dolphin kid better still be alive, otherwise he'd never hear the end of Sonic. That hedgehog cared too much for strangers. The dark hedgehog's life experiences forced him to not to immediately trust everyone around him. Everyone was capable of backstabbing and no one was exempt.

His hand gripped on his plastic bag carrying the boxed device. If Sonic ever betrayed his trust – he would go insane.

He finally arrived at his house. He unlocked the door to stepped inside. First thing first, he had to check up on the kid. He walked towards the bathroom and was immediately greeted with the sight of the blue hedgehog sitting in front of the bathroom door that was slightly ajar. The look on his face read a mix of concern, sadness, and yearning.

Shadow dropped the bagged box with an audible _thump_, startling the blue hedgehog and making him look back towards him. The dark hedgehog crossed his arms and gave Sonic a disappointed look.

"I thought I told you to -"

"… not step into the bathroom or touch him, right?" Sonic lowered his eyelids and looked back towards the bathroom dejectedly. "All I did was watch him. The entire time. He was… crying earlier you know."

Shadow looked at the blue hedgehog sitting in front of him. Sonic's glaringly obvious weakness to water wasn't just restricted to large bodies of it. It could also be in the form of tears. He walked forward and placed a loving hand on top of Sonic's head. He stroked him and even gave him a little scratch behind the ears. He felt Sonic relaxing under his touch, but the sadness still remained on his face.

Shadow spoke again, "Ten weeks."

Sonic's ears perked up, "What?"

"Give me ten weeks to make him well."

"Ten weeks? That's… almost three months."

"After that, he has to return back to the ocean."

Sonic lowered his ears and almost glared at Shadow. He tossed his head away from his hand and stood up. He walked back to the room and quietly shut the door behind him. Shadow shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. This was going to be a long night.

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

_Flashback_

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

ECHO snapped fully awake as the sound of gushing water roared in his ears, his body went from dry to drenched in one instant. Adrenaline rushed through his body as he suddenly found himself fighting for his life against the wild crashing ocean waves. Various thoughts ran through his disoriented mind, one of which was the possibility of being preyed upon by larger carnivorous marine life. Pain shot up from the areas of his body where he was burned, the salty water working its magic on them. Right now though, he'd appreciate it if the natural salt would choose to disinfect during a much more appropriate time.

Normally, with his natural ability to hold his breath for roughly ten minutes, he wouldn't have to worry about drowning anytime soon. Unfortunately he did not feel daring enough to test his endurance in his NIDS ridden state and especially not after that 'training exercise' with the black furred hedgehog earlier that nearly sapped him of all his energy. Every time he broke the water's surface he felt like passing out all over again. It took every bit of will power he had to try and make it to shore… but where was shore?

Eventually he got tangled up in a floating mass of garbage, which threatened to impede his swimming. In a fit of rage, he bit and pulled against the mess he was entangled in, and finally freed himself of the floating environmental hazard. Too bad he was not completely out of danger yet. Wrapped around his body still were a bunch of soda can rings – multiple sets that were intertwined with each other. If he was thinking clearly and was in prime health, getting these off would be easy.

However this was not the case. In his futile attempts to try and get the rings off, he got himself even more tangled up, and the can rings restricted his movements so much that he could barely swim along the surface of the water, let alone stay afloat. Water entered his mouth and some managed to get in his lungs, causing him to cough. Whenever he sank down coughing, he would end up getting more water down his throat. His eyes widened in panic, he flicked his tail so at least his face could be above the relentless water.

He felt like a strange looking seahorse as he continued using his tail as his main way of drowning prevention. Eventually he passed out since that mode of travel required so much energy.

The next time he woke up, he wished he hadn't.

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

_Location Change_

_~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~_

Shadow could be so… callous at times! Throwing the kid back into the ocean – he talked as if the kid was some old used boot or something. What if the kid escaped the ocean because something larger had been about to eat him or something? Or pollution drove him out? Not everyone on Earth led comfortable lives, which was why Sonic took it upon himself to fight for what he believed was right and to ensured everyone got to live healthy and happily.

Though nowadays, he had been distracted by a certain dark furred hedgehog that often occupied most of his time.

To tell the truth, he kind of wanted to keep the little dolphin kid. That was if the kid didn't have a family to return back to. This yearning probably stemmed from back in his earlier days when he practically raised Tails since he was a young kit. There was also the fact that married couples tend to have children… but then again those married couples were a man and woman.

He rubbed his face in his pillow, as if trying to wipe the blush off his cheeks. Shadow as a daddy was definitely a sight to imagine. He sighed. Maybe perhaps Sonic could convince him to keep the kid after he fully recovered…

End of Chapter 3

Thanks again Shots of Sunshine for betaing =3 Props to her for persevering after getting her wisdom teeth yanked out!

Remember to leave your comments, reviews, etc, I love reading them ^^


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